How to connect YTDY cables to Home Assistant via GPIO and MQTT panel: device selection

Hi
I have 15 YTDY cables (3 pairs per cable i.e. 45 pairs) in a star system coming together at the control panel. Used to start will be 18 pairs (window contacts and control of 3 fans), the rest is for future development.

Home Assistant is not yet standing, going one at a time. For information, it will stand either on the RPI 3+ or on the QNAP NAS HS-251+ (I happen to have both, hence the choice). In the future, there will definitely be some ZigBee-based sensors.

I've already read that I should get some sort of GPIO panel, which I should connect to something that supports MQTT and further HA. Some people recommend that the MQTT server should also be a separate device, so I may go in that direction.

And here's where I ask for help. How do I get these cables together and expose the interface for further work? I'm asking about specific devices to use. Price-wise I would like to fit in a few hundred zloty max. Any soldering is rather out of the question, but when it comes to some firmware changes or programming, I can handle it.
EDIT
I don't need (for what I'm asking) WiFi support. I have all my equipment in the control unit and it is wired as well as any cable connections.

Thank you in advance for your answers

Well if you have an Rpi you don't want to solder then maybe something like this?
https://botland.com.pl/raspberry-pi-hat-ekspa...Hnk3kLJ08U_Ufq9yT8fjR1RP8TfkViYBoC5p0QAvD_BwE
By the way, using a centralised GPIO in one place and distributing it throughout the house I think is wrong.
It's easy to get interference, surges etc on long runs connected via GPIO.
If anything, I would rather use RS485 or CAN communication to connect to slaves, which already directly on short GPIOs handle sensors and actuators. Preferably with opto-isolation so that a short circuit or overvoltage at one point does not burn out the whole thing. Alternatively, use a wired LAN to communicate with remote devices.