This paper examines the extent to which the relationship between parents in cohabiting as opposed to married households affects the material hardship experienced by members of those households. My approach is to consider the adequacy of certain household public goods, such as housing, heat, and electricity.1 Drawing from noncooperative bargaining models of intra-household resource allocation, I test a prediction that the lower expected relationship continuity in cohabiting households leads cohabiting parents to underinvest in household public goods compared to parents in married households, holding household income constant.