Editor:

I would like to respond to your recent article on the city council budget discussions around funding for the Seeds of Hope Center. (Biddeford’s unhoused funding challenges, April 24, 2026).

It is helpful to recall that the city, working cooperatively with Seeds of Hope, was successful in resolving a significant human tragedy and public safety issue in the form of the encampment in Mechanics Park.

Without the center, its staff and volunteers, and its presence in the Biddeford community those currently being served will face the same choices and situations that resulted in the 2024 encampment.

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No doubt there will be those who will call for incarcerating the unhoused to prevent this from happening. Doing so will make the requested Seeds budget seem like a fond memory compared to the cost of incarcerating individuals in local jails, not to mention the continued dehumanization caused by criminalizing poverty.

I have spent time at Seeds talking with many of the folks that come there for a meal or a place to spend the night. With very, very few exceptions, none of these individuals were unhoused by choice. Some, in fact, are living with deep struggles that keep them unhoused.

Certainly, these individuals may need some form of a structured residential setting to help them through. But significantly, there is also simply a lack of affordable rental options. I’m not sure why double-digit rent increases haven’t brought increased city revenue from taxes on apartment property owners, but I’ll leave that for others to figure out.

Two final points in closing.

First, I object strongly to Councilor [Marc] Lessard’s shameless and unsubstantiated “dog whistle” blaming the unhoused for people “no longer feeling safe going downtown” and suggesting that the decline of the downtown business climate is “probably as a result of this issue.”

There is no credible causal link between being unhoused and committing criminal behavior towards others that I have found. In fact, being unhoused makes someone much more likely to become a victim of crime, violent or otherwise.

Finally, the city should consider the fact that Seeds not only serves the unhoused but also serves many individuals and families that are housed but unable to afford both meals and housing.

Closing the center will place these individuals and families that much closer to joining the ranks of the unhoused and compounding the entire situation. “Penny wise and pound foolish” as my grandmother liked to say.

Sincerely,

Tom Kircher, Biddeford

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