Across Maine, from Aroostook to York, we find ourselves in the midst of an ongoing and devastating increase in homelessness — one that puts lives at risk and challenges us to take action.

The reasons for the increasing number of individuals, children and families living in Maine without reliable shelter and for longer periods of time are complex and many. They include insufficient affordable housing, increased costs of basic living and issues including substance use and mental health epidemics.

And while we are experiencing an increase in homelessness and housing instability, at the same time, we’re contending with the actual or potential loss of existing shelter beds that we desperately need.

Maine’s homelessness response system is in crisis. Stagnant funding and record-high homelessness have left shelter providers running unsustainable deficits. Simply put, the cost of providing shelter and associated services for people experiencing homelessness has risen fast, while state funding to run Maine’s emergency shelters has remained frozen for almost a decade.

The resulting and growing gap between the cost (estimated by MaineHousing at $102 per bed per night) and state funding (currently about $7 per bed) has shelter operators teetering on the brink, or worse.

In May, York County’s only adult shelter closed after 45 years of providing southern Maine residents with a short-term place to stay as well as the support and services to help them find their way back to stable housing.

This recent loss of 36 beds from Maine’s statewide emergency shelter network will leave even more Maine people without an appropriate, safe and cost-effective place to turn and will push first responders such as police and health care professionals into the gap.

The result: fewer beds for people who need help, more people unhoused, more people living on the streets or in the woods and more in jails and emergency rooms.

Communities in York County are working to sustain vital family shelter services and assist those displaced by the shelter’s closure. But the crisis facing emergency shelters isn’t limited to York County. Homelessness is a statewide problem that requires a statewide solution.

Homeless Services of Aroostook is under similar pressures: rising costs and demand while funding remains stagnant. Without them, some residents in the County are over five and a half hours away from their nearest emergency shelter.

Maine’s emergency shelter network is asking for help. LD 698, brought forward by Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, would modestly increase funding for shelter operations from $7 to $19 per night with the goal of preventing a loss of more beds or closure.

Representing parts of York County is a privilege, regardless of how difficult the work can get. We will remain steady and relentless in our commitment to ensuring our neighbors have access to a safety net for their essential needs. And we are working diligently in our community and at the state level to stabilize our shelter network.

In these very difficult moments, we are reminded of just how unique Maine is.

From the moment the closure announcement was made, stakeholders came together to problem-solve. Community partners strategized and continue to collaborate. MaineHousing was swift in its response and support, and Gov. Mills has expressed both concern and readiness to work toward a solution. For this, we are grateful. But we face difficult realities in tackling the problem statewide.

Demand for shelter has been unrelenting and has grown across Maine. Currently, more than 4,000 Mainers are unsheltered, yet statewide, our shelter network has just 1,200 beds. Even if we pass sufficient funding to preserve the beds we have, many of our community members are still several hours from their nearest emergency shelter.

We are proud of the strides we have made over the past several years to address issues along the whole housing continuum. But we cannot ignore the crisis currently faced by Maine’s emergency shelters. We must do what is needed to sustain their services and we must do it now.

We hope in the coming weeks we can make investments to help stabilize our shelter network, so that they can focus on the extremely important and difficult work they do for all of us.