At a meeting last week, the Biddeford City Council heard a presentation from Westbrook Development Corp. on how to receive more state funding for affordable housing projects in the city.

“We want to learn how Biddeford projects can rise to the top of the heap in the scoring measures that are used by Maine Housing,” Biddeford Mayor Martin Grohman said. “They can be really helpful to these projects and help us meet our affordable housing priorities.”

Over the last year, Biddeford has held many discussions about affordable housing and the need for it in the city.

Tyler Norod, director of real estate development at Westbrook Development Corp., said the company currently has four projects they’re hoping to get funded for construction in Biddeford.

“There’s a great need for affordable housing in Biddeford,” Norod said. “We’re working to build more urban buildings.”

One of the most common ways to fund affordable housing projects is through Maine Housing, which has a certain number of Low Income Housing Tax Credits. Created in the 1980s during the Reagan administration, the low-income credits are typically the largest funding source in an affordable housing deal, though the project would also still require other sources of funding.

Each state receives credits based on its population. As a small state, Maine receives a lower number of credits than more populated states.

In order to determine which projects will receive credits, Maine Housing developed a scoring criteria that tries to direct services to areas of the state that would best benefit from affordable housing.

“The good news is Biddeford typically scores pretty well,” Norod said. “We’re starting from a great place.”

Areas that are deemed as desirable for affordable housing development typically offer bus lines and are close to grocery stores, schools or community centers.

“Biddeford has seen so much growth and new, attractive amenities for folks,” Norod said. “There is a lot of extra pressure to get affordable housing here.”

Biddeford is also in a good place as far as tax credit scoring because of the number of projects it has in the queue.

Currently, Westbrook Development Corp. has two affordable housing projects in the works in Biddeford. In downtown, two 45-unit affordable housing structures for seniors was approved by the Planning Board.

Another project of 40 units of affordable family housing funded by Maine Housing, and a project of 36 units of affordable senior housing are also in the works.

“The more projects you have in the queue, and the longer you allow them to be in the queue, the better chance they have of being funded and built,” Norod said.

Over the next year, Biddeford plans to continue working on providing affordable housing for low-income residents, including by bringing up the city’s points in the Low Income Housing Tax Credits system.

“Bringing up those points could make or break a project,” Councilor Doris Ortiz (Ward 5) said. “We’re in the hole for housing.”