McKinney council examines next steps for Community Land Trust initiative

Council members indicated a preference for multiple avenues including a larger development that is made up of townhomes or smaller developments that can accommodate single-family lots.

Council member Justin Beller said it was “all of the above” for him.

“If we’ve got lots identified that are available that are priced within something we should look at, then I don’t want to miss those opportunities because we’re saying we should do something bigger,” he said. “We should find it where we can get efficiency in delivering products.”

How it works

Council members designated the McKinney Housing Finance Corporation as a Community Land Trust in May 2024. It enables the corporation to purchase eligible properties and finance the cost of residential homeownership.

“The CLT is allowed to own the land and then we partner to build housing on this land but then we just sell the structure,” Todd said. “Then it makes the house affordable for that homebuyer because they’re just buying the structure.”

Residents who purchase a home through the trust will pay taxes on that structure and on the land which would be leased, she said. Residents would pay an amount for the land lease but that amount has not been determined yet, Todd said.

Money paid for the lease would go back to the CLT which could be used for more affordable housing opportunities, she said.

The CLT was established with $1 million in seed money. The McKinney Community Development Corporation has also allocated $1 million to the CLT in its fiscal year 2025 budget. The CLT can pursue further funding from project grants and partnerships with private and philanthropic sources, according to Todd’s presentation.

Why it matters

McKinney is currently in the process of updating its comprehensive housing needs assessment, Todd said. The study, which was last updated in 2023, indicated a rental gap of more than 5,100 units that are affordable to households earning less than $35,000, according to the presentation.

“We have an insufficient amount of affordable housing so that gives us an opportunity to increase our affordable housing supply through diversity with our development incentive programs and things like that,” she said.

What they’re saying

Council members Patrick Cloutier and Rick Franklin signaled support for larger developments with multiple units. Both council members also indicated they would be interested in single-family developments as well.

“I would love to hit a single on this and I’d like to—the idea of townhomes is very appealing to me but I’d like to do townhomes where we don’t have to rezone an infill piece of property,” Cloutier said.

Franklin said he leaned towards larger developments in order to catch up.

“I think we’re so far behind on the units that to make a dent in it we’ve got to come up with a larger project,” he said.