The study combines data from two ethnographic projects conducted in New York City over the period 1989-92. These projects spanned seven low-income neighborhoods and included data from a broad sample of women crack users of various ages and race-ethnic backgrounds who exhibited considerable diversity in terms of their drug-use careers. A major theme emerged in both studies: the majority of these women did not have a conventional place to sleep, rest, eat, bathe, and store possessions. Instead, these female crack users, regardless of whether primarily active in sex work or drug distribution and sales, showed considerable effort and skill in finding places to stay for relatively limited time periods. The most common alternative living arrangement was for women to live in the household of an older male with a dependable income for a period of time. Women typically provided the men with sex, drugs, cash (less often), domestic service, or companionship. Several women lived in "freakhouses" (locales where several women entertained sexual customers and shared crack or other drugs) but tried to avoid crack houses or "shooting galleries" as residential locations. These alternative living arrangements reflected the women's powerlessness and the high levels of sexual exploitation and degradation of women in the inner-city crack culture. 49 references