McKinney council approves principles for Better Together homelessness initiative

City Manager Paul Grimes called it a “strategic approach” toward addressing homelessness in McKinney.

“We're very pleased to be able to present this to you because I think this is an important milestone to be able to move forward,” he said.

Better Together was originally called Stronger Together when city officials posted the Oct. 21 meeting agenda the previous week. The name was changed to avoid confusion with a number of groups and projects that have the same name.

The details

The guiding principles approved by council are meant to serve as a compass for the initiative, said Margaret Li, housing and community development director.

• Addressing homelessness requires a united community effort.
• A healthy community requires a shared sense of safety and well-being for all residents.
• Officials will ensure solutions focus on providing tailored services and resources that respond to everyone’s needs with compassion and dignity.
• To ensure effectiveness and efficiency, any implemented strategy must be guided by empirical data, not assumptions.
• Preventing homelessness is as important as responding to it.

The initiative itself includes several goals like development of an implementation plan that outlines next steps for the city, according to the presentation.

“The proposed Better Together initiative will provide us with an opportunity to consider all aspects of the issue, engage the community and evaluate all solutions to see what is most effective for our community,” Li said.

Looking ahead

To assist city staff with the initiative, they are looking to hire a third-party facilitator in 2026, according to Li’s presentation. The facilitator will help develop a plan for engaging with key stakeholders in the community, Li said.

City officials anticipate awarding a contract for services in February 2026, according to the presentation. The facilitator will assist in organizing community engagement and developing a strategic and implementation plan.

Council will be updated on the initiative’s progress in May with final adoption of the strategic and implementation plans expected in October 2026, Li said.

What council members are saying

During the work session, council member Beller said he was skeptical of the initiative. While he agrees with the concept, he said they keep bumping against “the barrier that is the cost of housing.”

“I think it goes back to feeding into the idleness a little bit,” he said. “We know solutions that are out there. We know access to housing dollars is the largest constraint that we're dealing with.”

Beller said he thinks the initiative is going to come at a “bigger cost” than the city has ever allocated to housing people who are unhoused.

“I'm just skeptical that we're stepping into a very similar pattern of, 'Let's talk about it some more, let's not spend money on housing people, and let's turn around in a year and realize that we're in the same situation,'" Beller said.

Commenting on the guiding principles, council member Cloutier said he was not convinced that the city would get a united effort to address homelessness. He said he agrees that empirical data will help ensure efficiency of the initiative.

“I certainly fully embrace that the preventing of homelessness is as important to responding to it,” he said. “I would candidly say that I think that it may be more effective than the latter.”