Barcelona’s new hostel for drug addicts won’t open until March

The installation project of a shelter for homeless people with addictions These days the families of the Mas Casanovas del Baix Guinardó school are restless. In meetings with representatives of the Horta-Guinardó district the possible location of this social facility in the Hotel Aristol, located in front of the school, according to Vanesa Gasull, spokesperson for the Family Association (AFA) of the center. Parents then put themselves on guard because they consider “a serious mistake & rdquor; place this facility less than 15 meters from the school, a highly complex center that welcomes kindergarten and primary school students, and they demand that the idea be reconsidered.

The intention of the Barcelona’s town hall is to give continuity to this reception service, pioneer in the city, which is currently located in Les Corts and that it has worked very well for the health of the people staying there.

Complex project

Municipal sources have explained to EL PERIÓDICO that the council hopes to have all the details of the project closed to 100% in order to open the new shelter over the next month of March.

One of the key points of the project is the site from service. The Hotel Aristol, currently closed like many other hotels due to the pandemic situation, has been targeted as a location. This is one of the issues that contains a certain complexity, since it implies agreeing on the various parties involved in the process, including the property of the building and the lessee, which is the one who currently has rented the premises and operates it as a hotel.

The legal representative of the property has ensured that the owners do not have any firm proposal on the table today and that when this happens they will value it. They did know, he adds, that the tenant was considering a transfer.

The hostel will manage it, after obtaining from the Barcelona Public Health Agency (ASPB), the mandatory public tender, the Association for Welfare and Development (ABD), an entity with extensive experience in the social care sector and that already manages the service at its Les Corts location.

Related news

Provisional location

The shelter opened a year and a half ago, in the midst of a pandemic and with an active state of alarm, to provide shelter and support to this group of vulnerable people during confinement. It was then installed, and provisionally, in a premises located on Calle de Numància donated by the Pere Tarrés Foundation with capacity for 70 people.