FAMILY - A family is a group of two or more persons related by birth, marriage, or adoption who reside together; all such related persons are considered as members of one family.

INCOME - Refers to total annual cash receipts before taxes from all sources. Income includes money wages and salaries before any deductions, but does not include food or rent in lieu of wages. Income also includes net receipts from nonfarm or farm self-employment. Also included are regular payments from social security, railroad retirement, unemployment compensation; workers’ compensation, strike benefits from union funds, veterans’ benefits, public assistance, training stipends, alimony, child support and military family allotments or other regular support from an absent family member or someone not living in the household; private pensions, and regular insurance or annuity payments; and income from dividends, interest, rent, royalties, or period receipts from estates or trusts. For eligibility purposes, income does not include the following money receipts: capital gains; any assets drawn down as withdrawals from a bank, the sale of property, a house, or a car; tax refunds, gifts, lump-sum inheritances, one-time insurance payments, or compensation for injury. Also excluded are noncash benefits, such as the employer-paid or union-paid portion of health insurance or other employee fringe benefits, food or rent received in lieu of wages, the value of the food and fuel produced and consumed on farms, the imputed value of rent from owner-occupied nonfarm or farm housing, and such federal programs as Medicaid, Food Stamps, or public housing.