TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — For survivors of domestic violence, escaping an abuser is already difficult, but a concerning situation in the Tampa Bay area could be making matters worse.

“I called the domestic violence hotline. Nobody had any type of opening,” Crystal Bresnahan said. “I started to feel really lost and hopeless like wow, I’m really stuck.”

Bresnahan is recovering from a brutal attack at the hands of her husband, Michael, in which she was stabbed 13 times.

“Honestly thought I was going to die there,” she explained. “I couldn’t breathe.”

“I could feel my lungs filling up with blood,” she continued. “It was terrifying.”

Michael is the same man investigators say pulled out an AK-47 and started shooting at police last month on Florida Avenue. Police said he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Bresnahan told 8 On Your Side she’d seen Michael’s violent behavior before and was terrified of how far he would go.

“I would tell people, ‘he’s going to kill me’ if I try to leave, and they’re like, ‘oh you’re crazy, he’s not going to try to do that,'” she said.

She and her husband had three kids together.

Bresnahan said not every day was a bad day, but when those bad days came, she recalls Michael getting extremely violent.

“It’s getting progressively worse,” Bresnahan said. “What’s he going to do to me next?”

“He always told me he would snap my neck or shoot me in my face,” she continued.

One day, Bresnahan decided enough was enough. She called a domestic violence hotline.

She was told there wasn’t a bed available and to call back the next day.

“For the most part, we try to do a 48-hour waiting list where we will be able to get you in but that doesn’t always happen,” The Spring of Tampa Bay CEO Mindy Murphy said. “So occasionally, we will have to say ‘there isn’t any room right now.”

“We might have to say that for several days in a row,” she continued.

Murphy said the issue stems from the housing crisis that has been impacting families across the Tampa Bay area.

With the rise of inflation, it makes it costly to live on your own.

“This problem is not going to go away anytime soon,” Murphy said. “It’s not exclusive to survivors of domestic violence.”

“The issue is, when you’re a survivor of domestic violence, and you need housing and safe shelter, the urgency and immediacy can be — finding that housing could be the difference between life and death,” she said.

Murphy said it’s critical for survivors to not only reach out but tell their entire story.

Anyone experiencing domestic violence and in need of help, click here. If your life is in immediate danger, they need to know the details so they can help you get out.