With affordable housing in short supply, the family found themselves up against a ton of competition, while also fighting stereotyping, said Simpson.

“People need to stop stereotyping homeless people. We were just people in the crack going through a rough bump in the road,” said Simpson.

At the beginning of March, after five months without a home, Simpson was at wit's end.

“I was giving up. I was tired of being told no,” she said.

It wasn’t until an employee from Housing First, a program backed by Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness (SCATEH), offered assistance that they secured an apartment.

Simcoe County has realigned their services around affordable housing and homelessness with hopes of addressing the problem.

“This housing first program is a model the county has taken on to try and reduce homelessness and eliminate it all together within ten years,” said Sonia Ladouceur, executive director of Shelter Now. “It is taking away all the conditions and bringing low-barrier access to supports and housing.”

According to Ladouceur, Shelter Now had 40 people come in seeking help finding a place to live over the first two months of this year. Those in the industry, such as Ladouceur and Pelletier, know there are many others like Simpson, in need of housing.

On April 24-25, Simcoe County will be conducting a homelessness point-in-time count to get some data. Ladouceur hopes it will show a clear picture of the issue in the region and convince the government to provide more housing funding.

“One of the goals of enumeration is not only to count the people in our shelters who we know but to make an effort to go find the people we don’t know,” said Pelletier. “I know there are people sleeping out in the bush all winter who for whatever reason will not come into the shelter. We want to get an idea of who they are and how many people are out there.”

While there are many housing workers and programs in place to help the homeless, many in the industry feel homelessness could be solved with more housing.

“Our challenge is housing supply,” said McKay. “If there is no housing out there, if really doesn’t matter how intentioned you are, there is just no place to go.”