Homeless women with children. The role of alcohol and other drug abuse.

Alcohol and drug abuse may be consequential risk factors for homelessness for some women with children because it may interfere with a woman's capacity to compete for scarce resources such as housing, employment, or services. This article considers the impact of different policy decisions on homeless women, their dependent children, and the family unit. These policy decisions include women's rights to privacy, criminalization of drug use, and scarcity of appropriate treatment programs for women who are homeless.