PORTLAND (AP) – Amanda Wagner has been homeless for much of the past three years, ever since a relationship went bad. She expects to be homeless again because a friend who has allowed her to sleep at an apartment in Westbrook is about to be evicted.

“I don’t know where I’m going to go on Monday,” Wagner said. “I try to keep myself inside somewhere when it’s really cold out, but it’s been a brutal winter.”

This winter cold has hit hard at Maine’s chronically homeless as well as those struggling to keep a roof over their heads. As a result, there has been growing demand for space in the state’s homeless shelters.

“We’ve been very busy,” said Mike Marston, who runs the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter in Waterville, where all 18 beds have been full every night this winter. He cites the cold temperatures and soaring costs of home heating, as well as other economic factors.

Marston received desperate calls Thursday night from two single mothers, one with three children and the other with four. Both needed an emergency place to stay.

The Tedford Shelter in Brunswick and the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter have been full pretty much all winter, officials said. On some nights, even the two couches at Tedford have been occupied.

Portland’s shelters housed an average of 253 people per night last month, up from an average of 242 in January 2007.

Many of the homeless have addiction or mental health issues, problems that are deeper and longer lasting than one rough winter. Still, the prolonged cold and snow probably take the greatest toll on the homeless.

“Clearly, if you don’t have a roof over your head, this winter has been extremely challenging,” said Douglas Gardner, director of Portland’s health and human services department.

Wagner, who lives with her dog Herschel, dreads the thought of returning to Portland’s crowded shelter for homeless women.

“I’d sleep in a car or a shed with my dog before I would the shelter,” she said. “I feel like I belong outside more.”

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