An income-check request is not itself a decision to cut Oregon SNAP benefits. The state is reviewing income information on more than 80,000 cases in November and December, and it may contact households directly or send an “Information Needed” notice. If a notice gives a response deadline, missing it could interrupt food benefits.
What the Notices Actually Say
According to KATU, ODHS may send an Information Needed notice when it has questions about reported household income. The request depends on the case: a notice may ask whether someone earns money from an employer or ask the household to confirm income records the agency has found. Each notice has its own deadline. ODHS advises recipients who get one to contact the agency promptly.
ODHS says the checks are intended to ensure households receive the correct amount of food assistance. Any SNAP household could be contacted, including one without children. The agency says it will send a separate notice explaining any resulting change to eligibility or benefit amount, so an Information Needed notice alone does not mean benefits will be reduced.
How to Respond Before the Clock Runs Out
Recipients can respond online, by email, fax, mail, at a local ODHS office, or by phone. Documents should include the household's case ID; pay stubs or an employer letter can verify earnings. Anyone who may not be able to provide documents by the deadline should call the number on the notice.
Jessica Amaya Hoffman, interim director of the Oregon Eligibility Partnership at ODHS, said income can be complicated for a lot of families, pointing to gig work, changing work hours, or financial help from relatives as common wrinkles. The ONE Customer Service Center, reachable at 800-699-9075, offers help in multiple languages and is staffed weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific time for anyone who needs a hand walking through the process.
ODHS is also urging households to keep their mailing addresses and phone numbers current, since a notice that never reaches someone can't be answered in time. The agency has framed a prompt response as the single best way to avoid an interruption or loss of benefits altogether.
New Housing Documentation Requirements
Separately, SNAP applicants and people renewing their benefits will now need to show proof of housing and utility expenses for those costs to count toward their benefit calculation. A lease, utility bill, landlord receipt, or even a payment screenshot can serve as documentation, and ODHS staff say they can help people find other ways to verify expenses if they share housing costs, get help paying bills, or lack permanent housing. The agency is encouraging applicants to go ahead and apply, renew, and complete required interviews even while they're still tracking down paperwork.
A Smaller Mailing Already Caused Confusion
This isn't the state's first income-verification push this year. Back in September, ODHS began mailing notices to roughly 1,706 people receiving SNAP or TANF benefits, after initially citing a far larger figure of about 11,000 before correcting the record, per the earlier KATU report. Those notices asked recipients to provide verification by September 28, and the station reported at the time that benefits could be reduced or end without a response.
That smaller effort reached just over 1,700 people out of the nearly 640,000 Oregonians on SNAP at the time, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle. The notices went to households that had reported income below 130% of the federal poverty level — $20,748 for an individual or $42,900 for a household of four — even though outside income data suggested those households might actually be at or above that threshold. The Chronicle also reported that the notice did not automatically mean someone would lose benefits, and that people who missed the September deadline were still advised to contact the department, since a caseworker might be able to help.
Why Oregon Is Scrutinizing Payments So Closely
The checks come amid concerns about accuracy in Oregon’s SNAP payments. An earlier KATU report cited a 14.14% payment error rate. The Oregon Capital Chronicle has reported that a 2025 federal law will add financial burdens for states when error rates exceed 6%; Oregon was among the jurisdictions granted a one-year delay on new SNAP cost-sharing requirements, according to Jefferson Public Radio.
What the Error Rate Measures—and What It Could Cost States
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s FY 2024 table lists Oregon’s SNAP payment error rate at 14.06%: 12.66% in overpayments and 1.40% in underpayments. The rate is a measure of payment accuracy; those figures do not, on their own, establish fraud or intentional wrongdoing. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, the rate includes both payments above and below the correct amount. A separate financial consequence could begin in October 2027. According to an Associated Press report published by KOIN, states with SNAP error rates of 6% or greater could then have to pay a portion of benefit costs.
State officials told KATU in September that they expected to continue income checks into the following year, though the schedule for future mailings hadn't been finalized at that point. The Chronicle separately reported that Oregon expects to conduct additional income checks over the next 12 to 15 months, and ODHS now says it plans further rounds of checks in 2027. Nationally, more than 37 million people received SNAP benefits in March, down nearly 5 million people — over 11% — from a year earlier, according to preliminary USDA figures cited by Jefferson Public Radio.
