The company Suara, winner of the municipal shelter service for homeless people located in the Can Bufí Vell farmhouse, has announced that it cannot continue providing the shelter service because the city council owes them 1.7 million euros since 2021. Therefore, at the end of April it will stop providing the service that allows 45 homeless people to spend the night, nor the soup kitchen that helps many others.
The non-profit cooperative will stop providing the assistance service that began on June 27, 2020 under the mandate of Xavier Garcia Albiol. It initially opened to respond to the emergency caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. At that time, the government says, it was the only municipal shelter in the region and four years later there is still no similar service.
The only payment that the company received was in October 2021, in the same PP mandate, for an amount of 625,007.86 euros corresponding to the service provided during 2020, after an audit that endorsed the cost and the favorable report of the legal services. endorsed by the state of emergency.
Since then, “the government that emerged from the motion of censure in November 2021 did not promote the service for more than a year and a half,” according to the Consistory and, therefore, allowed a debt to accumulate that at this time the company cannot continue. maintaining. During this time, some necessary works were not carried out in the farmhouse for the proper functioning of the service.
Currently, the government of Xavier Garcia Albiol has carried out all the procedures to carry out the works in La Masia – published yesterday in the contractor’s profile – and the tender for the service was in its final phase before publication. The budget for the works is 243,278.47 euros.
Currently, according to the government, the area’s technicians and the company are working together to find ways out for the people who are currently in the shelter. Social Services is also carrying out all the procedures to pay the debt with the company.
In addition, the City Council is working on a project that will allow it, in 2025, to have 26 rooms for housing emergencies in a building where 24 apartments of protected housing will also be built.
The intention of the Government of Badalona with the Masía de Can Bofí Vell, according to the official statement, was to carry out the pending adaptation works, re-tender the service and pay the pending invoices. Given the interruption of service, the City Council must rethink the entire situation (except for the payment of invoices, which continues to be processed to be effective as soon as possible).
On the other hand, the president of the PSC municipal group, Fernando Carrera, states that “it is totally unacceptable that a contract, made by emergency in 2021, for a basic service such as a shelter for homeless people has not been regularized.” . Carrera has asked the municipal government not to close this service, essential for many people with few resources. For the head of the opposition, the money that the council owes to the company in charge of this service in Can Bofí Vell must be paid, but all contracts that are not up to date must be regularized. “Let’s not get lost in looking for culprits and let’s get to work to solve it.”
