Homeless Yellowknife couple lives together on the streets

Love has kept one Yellowknife couple warm in the N.W.T., despite the couple's living on the streets for the past six years.

Ralph and Winifred, who did not want their last names published, have lived together on the streets of Yellowknife and Hay River since they met in 2009.

"Why did I fall in love with Winifred? She's a very beautiful woman," says Ralph.

While the couple sleeps in stairwells during the winter, in the summer they pitch a tent on the outskirts of town.

"We are supposed to be apart," says Winifred. "He's supposed to go the Salvation Army, and me I got to go to the women's shelter. That's why we sleep in hallways.

"We don't want to be apart."

A butter knife to jimmy locks

Ralph uses a butter knife to jimmy open locks on doors to stairwells.

"I had to make my way in order for us to stay warm," he says.

The couple's favourite space is a storage room in a downtown office building, which they dubbed "the white palace." The couple was discovered there late last winter. The memory brings Winifred to tears.

"We had two winter jackets," she says. "They threw them out because we got caught."

Ralph says they left and walked and walked.

"We couldn't do nothing. We just moved," says Ralph.

Heart problems keep him from carpentry

Both say they suffer from alcoholism.Ralph is a trained carpenter, but is unable to work after undergoing heart surgery two years ago.

"I got a heart valve changed," he says.

He is on long-term disability, but has not been able to secure a home for the two of them. Both Ralph and Winifredsay theyfind navigating social services frustrating.

Despite their challenges, Winifred says they are happy.

"We have been happy all our lives, ever since we've been together."

Yellowknife is a hub for the homeless in the territory, with many coming to the capital for medical treatment and never returning home.

The City of Yellowknife conducted a count in June, and estimate there are about150 homeless people in the city.