A pregnant Gatineau mother of five says her family will be out on the street in a matter of days if they can't find an affordable place to live.

François Roy of Logemen'Occupe is calling on the community to come to the aid of the Gatineau family. (Sandra Abma/CBC) "I'm going to be thrown on the road with all my kids, with nowhere to live, because I have been having trouble paying my rent because it's too expensive," said Sarah Leonard at a news conference organized by Logemen'Occupe, an Outaouais non-profit agency that advocates on behalf of poor residents for the right to housing.

Leonard has five children aged three to 16, and is expecting her sixth child.

Last week she received an eviction notice for failing to pay her rent for the last 3 months. The family is due to be evicted March 7.

Leonard said she lives on social assistance and has been unable to come up with the monthly rent of $1,300, plus $200 for hydro. The family has been on a waiting list for affordable housing in the region for more than seven months, but is still waiting.

Shortage of affordable housing

"There are only a handful of such units available short-term in the entire social housing network. And the private sector has nothing immediately available for this family," said François Roy, a lawyer with Logemen'Occupe.

Sarah Leonard and some of her children attend a news conference with lawyer François Roy of Logemen'Occupe. The mother of five faces eviction on March 7. (Sandra Abma/CBC) "The Gatineau Housing Authority has no apartment immediately available for this family who requires a four-bedroom unit."

Roy has been trying to obtain emergency funding for the Leonard family from the province so they can stay in their current home. He arranged the media conference to ask the community to help.

Making Leonard's situation even worse, she stands to lose all her possessions as well as her home.

That's because under a new Quebec law, evicted tenants are required to move their belongings outside the home before the bailiff arrives. Failing to do so gives the bailiff the right to keep the contents and sell them.

Three-year-old Tessa Leonard accompanied her mother to today's news conference. (Sandra Abma/CBC) The director of the Gatineau Housing Authority, Mario Courchesne, agreed there is a scarcity of affordable housing for larger families in the region.

He said when Quebec families started having fewer children, the construction industry responded by building smaller homes. Courchesne said the authority is readying to open a new building to house large families this spring, but it's not ready yet.

Leonard, who was surrounded at the news conference by three of her children — Tessa, three, Emerick, four and Livia Veronica, 13 — said the stress of her predicament has caused her to experience early contractions.

"It's a very big stress on my shoulders, it's heavy. I had to go and lie down yesterday."

