This paper explores the emergence of "vulnerable populations" within federal government policy discourses, and considers the implications of this development for governmental practices. The paper argues that rather than defining poverty as a product of broader social and economic forces, the new focus on vulnerable populations is inextricably bound to neoliberal sensibilities that seek to individualize a wide range of social ills, and to the notion that communities are the appropriate locales for responding to individuals unwilling or unable to meet their own basic human needs. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT] Key words: Neoliberal governance, communities, vulnerable populations