I would love to get food stamps. Unfortunately, I worked for a living all my life.
Now that I’m retired and on a fixed income, I would love to get free stuff. However, because I own my own home (well, the bank and I), I’m not eligible.
However, had I spent my life on the dole, I would be eligible and could be sitting in front of my large screen TV enjoying all the comforts of government supported largess.
“Now that I’m retired and on a fixed income.... However, [because I have a mortgage], I’m not eligible.”
By all sensible (and sane) criteria, you should be eligible.
That would also mean that the 20% of Oregonians who get food stamps don’t also have a mortgage.
My father, before he passed away in 2008, owned his own home and made about $1,900 per month through a combination of pension and Social Security.
He was eligible for food stamps, though he never took them up on the offer.
He was in Washington State.......to be honest, I don’t know what the qualification numbers are in Oregon. But, if he was eligible (widower, owned his own home, and making a little less than $23K per year), I’d think there’s a possibility you may be as well.
I forgot to mention, when I said he owned his own home, he had no mortgage. He’d paid it off entirely in 1976. So it was free and clear.