Perth mother-of-two Justine McGovern doesn't know where she will sleep tonight.

After six frantic and fruitless months of searching for a place to rent, the 55-year-old will join Australia's growing number of homeless today.

"I would never have believed that this would happen to me at my age," McGovern told 9news.com.au.

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All week, McGovern has been sorting out her belongings and putting them in storage, getting ready for today, when she will be forced to vacate the rundown house she has been renting in Thornlie, in Perth's south-west, since September.

The house and its two neighbours on either side have been sold, ready to make way for a new development.

McGovern and her ex-husband normally share custody of their two teenage daughters equally, but now – as she has no place to live – they will move in full-time with their father.

Over the last few weeks, McGovern said she had reached out to various agencies to be assessed for emergency accommodation, but was yet to hear back on whether there was anything to offer her.

Now, her terrifying deadline is suddenly here and she is struggling to cope with the stress.

"I've realised in the last 24 hours that I've actually got the shakes quite badly," McGovern said.

"I'm an insomniac at the best of times, but I think I only slept for one hour last night."

READ MORE: 'It's hell': Renters being 'cooked from above' in sweltering homes

Without a car to shelter in, McGovern said she was struggling to come up with options of where to sleep.

"I'm terrified of ending up in a homeless shelter, to be honest," she said. 

"I'm having visions of sleeping at the airport as that seems to be the safest option if it comes down to it."

The rising homeless

McGovern is one of many who have slipped into homelessness recently on the back of a national cost-of-living, housing and rental crisis.

The number of homeless in Australia has risen 8 per cent in the four years from 2017-18 to 2021-22, according to the latest report from Australian Homelessness Monitor. 

A Productivity Commission report, released in August last year, acknowledged homelessness was fundamentally tied to housing affordability.

A confluence of high inflation, surging interest rates, and a lack of supply has made renting a home more unaffordable than ever.

In Perth, the vacancy rate for rental properties is currently at a record low of 0.7 per cent.

Have you been affected by the rental crisis? Contact reporter Emily McPherson at Sign up here to receive our daily newsletters and breaking news alerts, sent straight to your inbox.