WATERVILLE, Maine — Linda Owens was nervous about going to a homeless shelter. She was forced out of her apartment in Oakland four years ago and lived in a trailer with little heat or water supply.
She said she had reservations about a shelter and having to live with other people.
But this year she tried it out. She ended up staying, having her own room.
"I don't know what I would do without this place. I really don't," Owens said. "I would be screwed, and there are a lot of people worse than me."
The Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter in Waterville provides shelter for Owens and about 90 other people on a nightly basis.
But like many low-barrier shelters around the state, it is in dire need of funding.
Staff at the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter say they need about $500,000 to stay afloat this year but $750,000 if they want to be more comfortable.
"We [are expected to] run out of cashflow sometime this summer if we don't get that commitment from the legislature," Katie Spencer White, CEO of the shelter, said. "We are more than 'three squares' and cots. It's actually getting the folks out of here to do the intensive work and into permanent housing."
Spencer White said the number of people they service has been going up. So has their typical length of stay.
She said the most common number of days someone spent at their shelter before COVID-19 was four days. In 2023, she said the most common number of days was 365.
The issues at this shelter exist in other low-barrier shelters around the state. Shelters in December sounded the alarm about a collective deficit of $4 million.
Lawmakers in Augusta are considering a proposal by Gov. Janet Mills that would provide funding for those shelters but also for emergency shelters needed in extreme weather events.
Before it goes up for vote in the House and Senate, the proposal needs to make it through the state's appropriations committee, but White said ongoing talks in Augusta leave her with some hope.