McKinney sees year-over-year increase in homeless population

“[The Point-in-Time count] does not fully represent the homeless population within our community,” Li said.

Li said the city’s police department interacts with roughly 100 homeless individuals each month, and often sees new faces, further highlighting the limitations of the Point-in-Time count.

Paul Ballesteros, founder of Emmanuel Labor, a nonprofit organization that serves the local homeless community, said the count can be affected based on how the homeless population is prepared for the survey process.

“Sometimes there’s a resistance to do the survey because they’re not sure what it’s about and how it affects them,” he said. “We’ve tried to be very intentional [in] explaining that it’s more for down-the-road help.”

Ballesteros also said the number of volunteers that participate in the count process, as well as the experience of those volunteers working with the homeless community, can also serve as a “limitation in the accuracy of the number." The 2024 count was administered by 55 volunteers, city documents state.

“It’s the best bad system we have,” Ballesteros said of the Point-in-Time count.

Zooming out

While McKinney’s homeless population has seen a year-over-year increase, the combined homeless population of Collin and Dallas counties has seen an over 12% year-over-year decrease, according to data from Housing Forward.

The counties have seen a nearly 19% decrease since 2021, which Li said can be attributed to an increase in public-private partnerships that create opportunities for housing.

Of the 3,718 identified homeless individuals in Collin and Dallas counties:

• 29% were over the age of 55
• 63.6% were men
• 24% were identified as chronically homeless
• 9% were veterans
• 4% were unaccompanied youth

Li noted that the city has various programs in place to offer resources to individuals experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity.

Some programs currently in place include:

• The McKinney Police Department’s Community Service Unit
• The McKinney Fire Department’s Community Health program
• A tenant-based rental assistance program
• The McKinney Voucher program
• The Community Legal Services program

As a result of the city’s programming in place, 170 unhoused residents received assistance and over $150,000 was distributed to partner agencies to support the homeless community in the 2023-24 fiscal year, the presentation stated. Li said city staff would continue to work to evaluate existing programs and services, as well as to improve data collection, related to the city’s homeless population.

Quote of note

“My estimation is on the homeless thing [is] that it is bigger that we think it is, it’s getting bigger,” Council Member Patrick Cloutier said. “We are the county seat and that also provides huge challenges for us that are systemic with the jail here and Lifepath [Systems] here ... I’d like to make sure that whether it’s the county or the state or the federal government, that we are capturing the resources that we can to help mitigate this problem.”

Looking ahead

The next Point In Time count is scheduled to take place January 23, 2025, and volunteer registration will begin in December, Li said.

The city will also conduct an “End Panhandling” campaign during November and December.

For more information on the initiatives of the city’s Housing and Community Development department, visit www.mckinneytexas.org/155/housing-community-development.