If you had a warm home the last two days — and every day coming for the next four months through what is expected to be a long, cold winter — consider yourself very fortunate.

Maine’s homeless rate is increasing while other states’ rates are falling slightly. According the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, there were 610,042 homeless Americans in January, down from 633,782 in 2012 — a nearly 4 percent decline. The number has dropped 9 percent since 2007, when there were an estimated 671,888 homeless, according to HUD.

Maine’s numbers are quite different.

Maine’s 2013 homeless count of 3,016 was 623 more than 2012 — a 26 percent jump. Since 2007, the state’s homeless count has increased 14 percent.

Part of that is that Maine’s chronic homeless count is less than other states, probably because it’s simply not possible to be truly homeless — the onthe street, sleeping-on-a-park-bench homeless variety — during the worst part of the year and still be alive to be counted the following year.

Maine’s homeless are less visible. They are families sheltered in motel rooms and seasonal cottages. They are teenagers couch-surfing or staying in a friend’s family’s spare room. They are the mentally ill, shuffled between inpatient treatment centers, the overnight shelter or jail. They are veterans who haven’t made the transition between military and civilian life and are staying with their grandmothers or finding a place through support groups.

In the Mid-coast, there is simply no place for the homeless to go to get warm, have a shower, get a hot meal or wash their clothes. The library closes at night; there is no overnight diner where a homeless person can sit and nurse a cup of coffee through the coldest hours. The single shelter we have — and Tedford Shelter is doing great work — can serve only a few dozen people and families every night.

If you slept in a warm home last night, you know that a person needs the most basic things before he or she can begin to work past the underlying issues and rejoin society. The basics — food, clothing, shelter, followed by medical attention and hygiene — are musthaves before a person can look for a job, or seek support for whatever issues he or she is facing.

You can’t pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you aren’t fortunate enough to own boots.

Services for the poor and especially the invisible homeless have been cut to the bone. Food stamps were just cut, which means that other services tied to SNAP were also cut, including General Assistance provided through towns. The governor recently hired a consultant for nearly $1 million to advise him how to cut services for the poor even more.

This is, simply put, intolerable.

There are people in the Mid-coast who also believe it to be intolerable.

In Brunswick, an ad hoc committee is trying to find a way to solve the unique problem of adolescent homelessness. In Bath, a newly formed group is trying to find a way to provide shelter and services to those in need.

If you slept in a warm home last night, consider attending a meeting of one of these coalitions. Bring your good ideas and your open heart.

Two days before Thanksgiving, let’s see if we can’t find a way for more of our citizens to share in the bounty.