WIC 801 Homelessness

A woman, infant or child who lacks a fixed and regular nighttime residence; or whose primary nighttime residence is:

• A supervised publicly or privately operated shelter (including a welfare hotel, a congregate shelter, or a shelter for victims of domestic violence) designed to provide temporary living accommodations;

• An institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized;

• A temporary accommodation of not more than 365 days in the residence of another individual; or

• A public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.

Homeless individuals comprise a very vulnerable population with many special needs. WIC Program regulations specify homelessness as a predisposing nutrition risk condition. Today's homeless population contains a sizeable number of women and children – over one-third of the total homeless population in the U.S. Studies show forty-three percent of today's homeless are families, and an increasing number of the "new homeless" include economically-displaced individuals who have lost their jobs, exhausted their resources, and recently entered into the ranks of the homeless and consider their condition to be temporary.

1. WIC Program Regulations; Sect. 246.7(e)(2)(iv).