The Bonanit Foundation has sealed its integration with Càritas Diocesana de Tarragona to ensure the continuity of the shelter that serves homeless people in the Part Alta and to adapt it to the new Catalan homelessness law, planned for this year. The entity has accumulated more than 150,000 overnight stays in two decades and serves about 600 people a year.
The agreement comes at a time when the model with which Bonanit has operated until now is no longer sufficient to meet the new requirements. Josep Fèlix Ballesteros, former mayor of Tarragona and president of the foundation, summarized it with a direct warning, advocating for the change in structure to avoid being left out of the new legal framework.
The new law will require 24-hour shelters
Salvador Grané, president of Càritas Diocesana de Tarragona, points to the future regulation as the main reason for the alliance. In his assessment, the law introduces a fundamental change because it recognizes rights for homeless people and requires a reformulation of the assistance response.
"It represents a big change because it guarantees rights" - Salvador Grané, president of Càritas Diocesana de Tarragona
The regulation will require shelters to remain open 24 hours a day and to have spaces for storing belongings, adequate temperature, running water, laundry facilities, and showers that preserve privacy. Bonanit will have to professionalize its operations to meet these standards.
Until now, the foundation worked with paper records and relied on monitors and volunteers. At the same time, it is already looking for a new location to adapt the service to the conditions set by the legislation.
The shelter has 20 places, with 16 for men and four for women, within a building where Càritas's Esmorzar i Caliu program also operates, offering breakfast to homeless and vulnerable people. In the same area, Tarragona has maintained resources linked to basic care, such as social care in Tarragona.
Càritas will provide liquidity, legal advice, and IT systems
The integration does not mean the disappearance of Bonanit. The foundation will maintain its legal personality and its board, in which the Xarxa Santa Tecla participates, while Càritas will assume legal, economic, and technical support functions to strengthen the entity's structure.
That support includes liquidity for the treasury, computer systems, and legal advice. A team of expert technicians is also incorporated to accompany users on labor and social integration itineraries until their relocation to autonomous housing, a line connected with the labor insertion of vulnerable people.
Ballesteros defended the operation as a necessary adaptation of the project. "Either we make a change or we will be out of the game," warned the president of Bonanit, explaining the need to gain stable structure before the law comes into effect.
The current building had already fulfilled that function in previous stages. Cáritas managed a homeless shelter there between 1980 and 2010, which closed due to the economic crisis and which Bonanit later reopened to recover the service in the Part Alta.
In addition to the shelter, the foundation manages between 12 and 15 apartments for vulnerable families, although it has not been able to expand this program due to the lack of available housing. Its annual budget is around 410,000 euros, with 45% public funding and the rest contributed by companies and individuals.
The new law will also change the financing of the service, as subsidies will give way to program contracts, a formula similar to agreements in education or health. The agreement maintains the role of volunteers and creates the position of honorary president for Antoni Coll.