Yellowknife is dealing with a much higher percentage of homeless people than other capital cities in Canada, according to a new report by the Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition.

The coalition's 2008 report card on homelessness found that five per cent of the city's overall population, or 936 individuals, stayed in an emergency shelter at some point last year.

In most Canadian cities, that figure is around one per cent, said Lyda Fuller of the homelessness coalition.

"For example, in southern Canada, you have services to homeless people in outlying areas around the major centres," Fuller told CBC News in an interview Monday.

"Here, people tend to come into Yellowknife, because we do have most of the services, and so you see a collection of homelessness within the city."

The report also found that men are at a higher risk to become homeless, usually because the priority for housing is for women with children.

Fuller said she is also worried by the number of households that are spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing.

She said about 650 households "are spending way too much to keep a roof over their head.

"You're always just sort of one breath away from having your landlord, you know, want you out of your unit, or having your power cut off, or not being able to afford food if you pay the rent. It's a real struggle," she said.

The coalition prepared the report card, the first of its kind in the city, to provide social service agencies with data to help address the problem of homelessness.