Posted On: March 26th, 2026, Posted By: Lisa Queen, Yorkregion.com, Original Article.
Annmarie Lawrence* is a positive person, a fighter, but she admits there are nights she cries herself to sleep at Blue Door’s Leeder Place emergency shelter for families in East Gwillimbury.
It wasn’t long ago that life wasn’t like this for the married Newmarket mother of three daughters, ranging in age from 15 to 28.
As recently as a couple of years ago, she worked as an unregulated care provider (UCP), carrying out essential daily duties at a retirement home.
A couple of years ago, Lawrence, who doesn’t want her full name published to avoid jeopardizing her family’s potential rental opportunities, was in a serious car accident.
She returned to work but developed a foot wound that nags her to this day, requiring she wear a wound vac to pull fluid away from the wound and promote healing.
Blood clots landed her in hospital.
Because Lawrence’s doctor has warned her not to spend much time on her feet or risk losing her foot, she wasn’t able to return to her job.
Lawrence and her family were bouncing back from the setbacks when the Newmarket house they had been renting for five years caught fire one night last April, leaving them homeless.
While a beloved cat was killed, fortunately everyone escaped the home uninjured, including the youngest daughter who was saved when her older sister quickly ran back inside to wake her and get her to safety.
“We were starting to see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel for the family and then the fire set us back,” Lawrence said.
The family stayed with relatives for months until they had to leave when a member of the household fell ill and needed the space the family was using.
In December, Lawrence, her husband and their youngest daughter ended up at Leeder Place on Hwy. 11 in Holland Landing north of Newmarket.
Their older two daughters found housing elsewhere.
While her husband continues to work as a supervisor at a factory, earning about $70,000 a year, Lawrence said they are struggling to find a place with today’s sky-high rents.
Rental reports indicate the average rent in Newmarket in February was about $2,350 a month, ranging from just under $1,900 for a one-bedroom unit to more than $3,200 for a four-bedroom home.
“I got to sell my arm and my leg, the ridiculous price of renting,” Lawrence said.
Some landlords are demanding three and four months’ rent up front, along with bank records and impeccable credit ratings, she said.
The affordability crisis driving up expenses such as groceries, gas and other costs makes the prospect of people experiencing homelessness finding housing and keeping a long-term roof over their heads daunting, Lawrence said.
Lawrence, who spends an hour or two a week delivering food to residents in need, is determined to regain her health, secure housing and find a job.
She’s interested in virtual work but there’s no space at Leeder Place to accommodate that.
Lawrence said her family’s situation shows how anyone can find themselves homeless after some bad luck.
Amanda Thomassian, Blue Door’s director of programs — emergency and seasonal housing, agrees, saying many people are as little as three paycheques away from losing their homes.
Since the pandemic, homelessness in York Region is “exponentially growing” across different demographics, including families, she said.
Leeder Place has 15 rooms (up to 60 beds) but due to the booming growth of families experiencing homelessness, the Region of York began within the last couple of years began renting 40 emergency shelter rooms (up to 240 beds) for them at a Vaughan hotel, Thomassian said.
“Families experiencing homelessness is just expanding at a deeply concerning rate,” she said.
“The cost of living is just increasing so much and, you know, the wage gap is not keeping up.”
There are waiting lists for both Leeder and the hotel, Blue Door’s client services supervisor, Laura Gosselin, said.
“There’s always a need,” she said.
There is no other emergency housing in the region dedicated to families experiencing homelessness other than Leeder Place and the hotel rooms, something that is desperately needed to give families the time and supports needed to ensure long-term sustainability so they don’t find themselves homeless again, Gosselin said.
For those who think they will never experience homelessness, think again, Thomassian said.
“I think everyone, everyone, needs to have their eyes on how quickly people in their community and their neighbours can experience homelessness,” she said.
“We’re in an economy where it could happen to anyone with a couple of unforeseen circumstances.”
*Annmarie Lawrence is the name she requested to be used in this article.
Editor’s note: This article has been changed to clarify the number of rooms and beds available at Leeder Place and the hotel rooms and to clarify Leeder Place and the hotel rooms are the only emergency shelter locations dedicated to families experiencing homelessness in York Region.