City officials in Biddeford are reviewing new public comment on the question of how to find new sources of permanent housing in the city.

Mayor Martin Grohman said in February the city opened up an online portal for the public to comment on housing-related issues. The initial plan, he said, was to keep it open for only two weeks, but strong public interest drove officials to keep it open for a month, closing it on March 11.

“It was gratifying,” he said. “We got tons of engagement.”

Last summer, officials made headlines when they shut down a homeless encampment with at least 40 people living in it. In the months that followed, the city has worked with local nonprofit Seeds of Hope to help finance the expansion of the city’s largest temporary shelter. 

Now, Grohman is looking more closely at permanent housing, together with the city’s Housing Task Force. The group is not new – it was initially commissioned by then-Mayor Alan Casavant.

But on Feb. 11, Grohman tried something different: He and the task force held a workshop with a large collection of developers, builders, bankers, financial institutions, code enforcement officials and other housing stakeholders.

“I tried to put everybody that has a role to play in the room for a conversation,” he said.

The goal: To hash out just why Biddeford isn’t seeing more housing development. 

“I think everybody is a little frustrated as far as, ‘Why don’t we have more shovels in the ground,’ ‘Why aren’t more of these projects happening,’ so I as mayor tried to draw out the developers’ frustration, the bankers’ frustration, the affordable developers’ frustration and say what’s in common and how can you guys help each other?” Grohman said.