The city of Galveston should not allow the tent shelter at Alamo Elementary School to close until it has a plan for housing those who took refuge there.
It’s not the city’s fault that those folks were left homeless by the storm. But the city does have a responsibility to provide temporary housing for those who have lost everything and who now have no place else to go.
It’s obvious that the need is still there. About 400 people are still living at the shelter, which is operated by the Red Cross. The shelter is set to close Sunday because the federal government won’t reimburse the city for the expense of keeping it open after that.
It’s also obvious that city officials were planning to close the shelter based on bad information.
At a news conference last week, City Manager Steve LeBlanc said most of those still living in the shelter were not Galveston residents but people who’d come here to work after the storm. Harish Krishnarao, executive director of the Galveston Housing Authority, said people displaced from housing authority property had been set up with new places to live.
Both statements were simply wrong. Many of the people at the shelter are Galveston residents. Some used to live in public housing projects that are now condemned.
City officials should learn a lesson from this. They came close to making a mistake by acting on bad information. Before they decide to close the shelter again, they ought to do some thorough research.
When the Galveston Housing Authority was in crisis years ago, its chief executive at the time, Sharon Strain, walked door to door to make sure people were being cared for and had a decent place to stay.
Most islanders aren’t ready to abandon that legacy of going the extra mile to help those in real need.
The city should want to help because it’s the right thing to do. But it’s also in the city’s own best interests to address the larger problem of the shortage of housing.
At a time when many businesses are struggling because of the lack of workers and the school district faces losses in state funds because so many children have not returned to school, it makes absolutely no sense to drive families off the island. Galveston should be trying to help people who really want to stay.
On Sept. 27, The Daily News urged city leaders to convene a summit to address the critical shortage of housing. We still think that’s a good idea.
Galveston is awash with people from the federal government who are trying to help. City officials ought to be pressing them for some kind of temporary housing to see people through this crisis.
