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238 (07/2026) Chapter 2:Eligibility • Section 5: Financial eligibility When the initial month’s income is different (higher or lower), the initial month is still used to calculate an average for ERDC budgeting. Situations when the initial month can be different are: • An applicant gets a new job • An applicant changes jobs • Other situations that may cause an income to increase or decrease. Income is calculated in ONE as follows: (First month’s income) + (ongoing income x 11 months) = total income for the certification period / 12 months = monthly income. REF In the initial month, actual income is only used if the income comes from a new or terminated source, or if the previous ongoing income is significantly different from ongoing income. A job or income source is considered new if the participant will receive their first payment in the initial month. If the individual has already received their first payment prior to the initial month, the income source is considered ongoing. Actual income is not used for self-employment or periodic income. Prospective eligibility and budgeting is used for stable income, income that can be prorated and annualized income. It can also be used for participants who leave the filing group due to domesticviolence, or for benefit groups when a new individual is added in the payment month after ODHS|OHA is notified the individual is a household member. The participant and ODHS|OHA jointly determine the anticipated income to be counted. ODHS|OHA will count only income reasonably certain to be available. However, some income is considered available even when it is not received in the budget month (e.g., converted, averaged and annualized income). MSP Initial and ongoing months ODHS|OHA converts and averages prospective income except in any month in which a new source of income begins, an existing source ends, or the amount changes. In such months, only income actually received or expected to be received is counted for all income except periodic and self-employment income. ODHS|OHA converts and averages prospective income except in any month in which a new source of income begins, an existing source ends, or the amount changes. In such months, only income actually received or expected to be received is counted for all income except periodic and self- employment income. Retroactive months In a retroactive month for which the individual is requesting benefits: • Income is averaged and converted to a stable monthly amount as needed. • For any retroactive month in which a new source of income begins, an existing source ends or the amount changes: If averaging and converting the income results in ineligibility, only income actually received or expected to be received in that month is counted. • Any ongoing periodic income received in a retroactive month is averaged over the period it covers.