LEWISTON — Despite a cold economy and even colder temperatures, Lewiston-Auburn’s two homeless shelters say empty beds can be found.

“People have lost jobs,” said Paul McLaughlin, the executive director of Hope Haven Gospel Mission in Lewiston. “I believe in most cases they are pulling together and trying to do the best they can without us.”

Few newly jobless people are asking for beds from his shelter at the corner of Lincoln and Cedar streets. The number of people staying at Hope Haven is roughly the same as it has been for the past two or three years, McLaughlin said.

Nor are people affected by the economy going in large numbers to the St. Martin De Porres Residence. The 10-bed shelter has had some full nights recently, but the trend is little different than it has been for years.

“It’s pretty much the same ballpark,” said Brother Irenee Richard, the residence’s executive director. Alcohol addiction, mental illness and domestic violence remain the big problems that land people at his Bartlett Street door.

And the people who lose an apartment due to job loss? They’re tough to find, he said.

“I call them ‘the invisible homeless,'” Richard said. Last year, unemployment accounted for only 3 percent of the stays at St. Martin De Porres. “A lot of people live with relatives and friends. It’s very hard to estimate how many there are.”

A report released earlier this year by the Lewiston-Auburn Alliance for Services to the Homeless estimated that Lewiston-Auburn has about 100 homeless people on any given night.

Combined, Hope Haven and St. Martin De Porres have 40 beds.

“The homeless are hidden in apartments, where they move from one friend’s couch to another; or in available shelters; or in cars or campgrounds in the summer,” the alliance’s May report read.

Of course, both shelters rely heavily on donations. And those have been effected by the economy.

Donation numbers won’t be compiled until the year ends, but the revenue has dropped, McLaughlin said.

Longtime donors have been cutting back, giving $10 or $20 instead of $50 or $100.

“It’s through no fault of their own,” McLaughlin said. “I’ve been getting checks in the mail with letters of apology.”

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