BIDDEFORD, Maine — The city of Biddeford will move forward with a new plan to address homelessness by urging tent-dwellers indoors. The city council voted overwhelmingly Tuesday night for a proposal to clear an encampment with around 50 residents, according to the city.
As this happens, 60 “indoor spaces” will be made available, with the brunt of them in Seeds of Hope Neighborhood Center. Overflow would be accepted by the local Second Congregational Church.
“We’re making a long-term investment in ending homelessness in Biddeford,” Marty Grohman, Biddeford’s mayor, said Tuesday. “We don’t want anyone living outside in Biddeford. We don’t think it’s a dignified existence.”
The plan also calls for nearly $800,000 dollars in federal funds to be put towards renovating the second floor of the Seeds of Hope facility, to allow for an expanded capacity of transitional housing.
While the vast majority of public comment before Tuesday’s vote was in favor of the plan, one councilor, Marc Lessard, expressed doubts over whether the proposal, which is estimated to bring daily operating costs to around $1,250 per facility, is financially feasible.
Some strong supporters of the plan, including Seeds of Hope Executive Director Vassie Fowler, also acknowledged that some in the encampment would not likely seek out the new resources made available.
“There’s always going to be a percentage of our population that doesn’t want help. And there’s only so much any of us are going to do to force them to take that help,” Fowler said.
But optimism remains that this plan to bring the unhoused indoors is well worth the effort.
“We need to take care of the people that want the help and need the help and get them to a safe place,” Dennis Anglea, the head of trustee at the Second Congregational Church, said Tuesday.
Now that the plan is passed, the city of Biddeford plans to clear the encampment on July 8.