La Laguna Greenlights Guajara Campus Student Housing Project
La Laguna City Council and the University of La Laguna have confirmed plans to build a new public university residence on the Guajara Campus, following a positive urban planning report, to address the urgent shortage of affordable student housing.
La Laguna has taken a major step towards solving its urgent shortage of affordable student housing, a problem affecting much of the Canary Islands. The La Laguna City Council and the University of La Laguna (ULL) have now confirmed plans to build a new public university residence on the Guajara Campus, following a positive urban planning report.
This progress comes at a time when rising rental prices in the Canary Islands have made it hard for many to find housing, particularly impacting students. For example, the ULL receives nearly 1,400 applications for accommodation each year, but its current public housing only offers just over 550 places. This significant gap forces many students out of the traditional housing market.
The urban planning report confirms that the chosen site on Avenida César Manrique is technically and legally suitable. It states that using the land for student housing fits with current zoning rules, ensuring the facility will be public. Adolfo Cordobés, the Councillor for Spatial Planning, emphasized that the Urban Planning Department worked rigorously to ensure the project's legal certainty.
La Laguna's mayor, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, highlighted this milestone as crucial for the city's strategy to build an inclusive city, where academic training doesn't depend on a family's financial situation. Similarly, the ULL's rector, Francisco García, noted that these new places in Guajara will attract talent and improve equal opportunities, ensuring that access to the university is a right, not a privilege.
Despite the planning approval, the project still needs to complete standard procedures. This includes getting reports from the State Air Safety Agency (AESA) due to potential flight path restrictions, and from the Island Water Council, as the El Charcón ravine is nearby. Once these conditions are met, the institutions will finalize the building's design, which will determine the exact number of available places.
With this initiative, La Laguna strengthens its position as a leading university city in the Canary Islands. It demonstrates a commitment to public education and uses urban planning to improve social and educational well-being.