BANGOR, Maine — The Bangor Area Homeless Shelter will not operate its overnight warming center this winter after seven years, citing low staffing and limited use.

Executive Director Boyd Kronholm said the decision came after the shelter struggled to staff both its 38-bed facility and the separate warming space.

“It’s just something we couldn’t do. We couldn’t find the staff to do that,” Kronholm said.

Kronholm said last winter the warming center averaged about 15 people, while 10 beds in the shelter sat empty. “Those folks weren’t interested in the beds, so I was paying twice as many staff to watch the same number of people had the beds been full,” he said.

The shelter plans to add five mats to its current beds to help fill the gap. “It’s a resource that we’re sad we took away, but w

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