GALVESTON — The city will close a tent city Red Cross shelter Oct. 26 when federal funding ends, City Manager Steve LeBlanc announced at a city council meeting Thursday.

City officials are “working very hard” with the island’s apartment association to house residents now living in the shelter, LeBlanc said.

“That facility needs to close down because that’s not the best environment for people to be in,” he said.

An estimated 450 people slept in the shelter Wednesday night – about 800 visited the shelter during the day to eat, bathe or use the toilet facilities, LeBlanc said

The city has identified 200 available apartments, he said.

“We’re not going to leave them in the lurch,” he said. “We need to work on that.”

Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas has requested 500 two-bedroom trailers from FEMA to house residents who have no place to go.

The city is trying to find a place for those trailers, if they are released by FEMA, and the council will ultimately have to pass an ordinance approving them.

“If we need more we’ll ask for more,” LeBlanc said.

If trailers are allowed, FEMA will set them up and the city will connect them with water, sewer and power.

Trailers, however, will be a temporary solution as they are unsafe to stay in during hurricane season.

Some residents of the neighborhood around the tent city at Alamo Elementary School on 53^rd Street have said they are growing increasingly frustrated with the residents of tent city.

Cheryl Herring has lived in a home across the street from the school since she was 8 years old. Herring said she has never before felt unsafe at the home until the shelter was erected across the street.

“I’ve worked in my garage for years and never had thievery,” she said. “But now there is loitering and people hanging out there … I can’t work at night (on the house) because it’s too scary.”

Shelia and Eddie Savage, who own four homes on the block of Avenue N ½ in front of Alamo Elementary School, said they’ve seen shelter residents urinating, vomiting and sleeping in others’ yards and they are concerned for their safety.

One homeowner was charged with shooting a man who had been staying at the shelter across the street from his home. Billy Nelson, 50, 1405 53^rd St., was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Capt. Walter Braun, police spokesman, said shelter resident Michael Deweese, 45, was involved in an argument in front of Nelson’s home when Nelson pulled a gun and the bullet grazed Deweese’s neck. Deweese was treated and released at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.

There are police officers stationed inside the shelter at all hours.

The Red Cross denies media access to the shelter unless reporters gain permission from officials and are accompanied by Red Cross officials during their visit.