The city passed ordinances penalizing sitting, sleeping and camping in public spaces, impacting McKinney’s homeless population.
MCKINNEY, Texas — In McKinney, a ministry built around storage containers has long served as both mission and refuge for the city’s homeless — a place where people can meet, store their belongings, and find community.
“I love loving people,” said Paul Ballesteros with Emmanuel Labor, who helps those in need every day. But this week, Ballesteros had to share difficult news: new city ordinances will change where his friends can sleep and gather.
“We kinda need more like a scalpel than a hammer,” Ballesteros said. “I don’t know how to deal with this one [person], so let’s take it out on anyone,” is how he feels this ordinance is applied.
Mayor Bill Cox of the City of McKinney told WFAA that a number of business owners and residents reached out to the city and said that they felt unsafe with the growing population of homeless on the Square. The reason behind the uptick in the visible unsheltered population is the nearby library being closed for a year for renovations. Business owners say they’ve seen trash left in areas and the unsheltered taking refuge on benches and alleyways for extended periods of time.
The new laws make it unlawful to sit, sleep, or lie in a public roadway or median, or to camp in a public space. For people like 21-year-old Mark Davis, who has been homeless for nearly three years, the changes are frightening.
“That’s putting so much pressure and anxiety on me,” Davis said.
At Tuesday night’s city council meeting, critics voiced opposition.
“It’s frustrating how much money we spend and how much effort we make just to say, ‘You being right there is illegal,’” councilman Justin Beller said before voting against it.
Both ordinances passed 6-1 and 5-2, respectively. Last month, the council voted to curb all panhandling city-wide. That’s the type of ordinance Ballesteros says he got behind because it is an unsafe and unhealthy practice.
Jill Scigliano, who leads the Samaritan Inn — a transitional shelter housing about 200 people, including many children — believes enforcement is just one very small solution.
“The answer cannot be ‘Move somewhere else so we don’t see you,’” she said. “Policing it is just one part of the equation. You cannot police your way out of this.”
Both Scigliano and Ballesteros say they understand the concerns of business owners and residents, but argue the ordinances are misdirected and harmful. They agree that all people should be made to feel comfortable in the City of McKinney. Both advocates also decry negative behaviors from the unsheltered that are harmful to the public. Paul says these behaviors may be attributed to mental health, but also says these instances are not the norm and are in the minority.
“The root issue still exists,” Scigliano said. “I don’t think we should criminalize people being poor.”
“If people have to hide more,” Ballesteros added, “it’s actually going to make it harder to help people.”
The latest numbers show the homeless population in McKinney is between 200 and 300. But Jill estimates it’s easily “in the thousands.”
For Davis, who is on probation and cannot leave McKinney, the stakes are high.
“I only get one chance and that’s automatic ten years,” he said.
Police are expected to begin enforcement soon, starting with warnings. All sides now wait to see how the new rules play out.
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