WATERVILLE (AP) – While state officials worry about the impact of heating oil prices this winter, another problem is developing as the cold weather sets in: a shortage of space in shelters for the homeless.

Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter Executive Director Susan Goss said the problem stems in part from a housing market that’s extremely short of apartments with three or more bedrooms, which makes it harder for shelters to place people in permanent quarters.

“Instead of two weeks, now it takes five to six weeks,” Goss said. The Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter is planning to build a larger shelter, also in Waterville.

Roy Strahan of the Central Maine Apartment Owners Association said three-bedroom apartments are at a premium right now. “You can almost name your price for a three-bedroom unit or more,” he said.

After arriving in Maine in late July, Delta Blake tried to get her family of six into an emergency shelter, but for two months found no space. Blake, 32, said she called shelters from York to Presque Isle daily but found out they were always filled.

In the meantime, her family lived in two tents in St. George State Park in Liberty.

“It was rough – a lot of rain, a lot of soaked things,” Blake said.

The Blakes, who have four children 7 and younger and a fifth child due next month, moved into the Mid-Maine shelter in Waterville in late September, and recently found an apartment. But now there’s a delay because it’s difficult to raise enough money for a security deposit.

Gov. John Baldacci says on his Web site that homeless shelters in Maine have experienced rapid increases in occupancy in recent years, and that those using them are generally poorer than in years past.

Baldacci and legislative leaders, meanwhile, have agreed to appropriate $5 million for fuel assistance for the needy the first order of business when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

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