Surge in domestic violence victims struggling to find shelter amid housing squeeze in Perth

When Helen* made the decision last September to leave her partner after eight years of almost constant physical and emotional abuse, she was left basically homeless.

With two of her children still young enough to be under her care, the trio was stuck, unable to secure a property in WA’s increasingly tight rental market.

“My life was so uncertain,” Helen said of that period, where she and her children moved from refuge to refuge.

“I didn’t know what I was doing the next day, you know, what…