Homesharing alongside home care assistants: complementary roles

Two kinds of presence that cannot be swapped

Many families assume that a young person living in for free will allow them to cut home care hours. The reverse is what works: a homeshare holds up when professional support stays in place and everyone knows exactly where their role begins and ends.

What a home care assistant does

Usually trained to a recognised social care diploma, the assistant helps with getting up, washing, dressing, meals and shopping. She works set hours, through an agency or as a directly employed worker, and carries professional responsibility for what she does in the home.

What the young housemate brings

The housemate covers what no care rota handles well: someone in the house at night, conversation over dinner, help changing a bulb or carrying heavy shopping. French homesharing law of 2018 speaks of small favours, not personal care, and similar charters apply in the UK and elsewhere.

The substitution trap

If the Saturday care visit is dropped because a student lives in, the housemate ends up helping with washing without training or proper insurance. Many then leave, and the older person loses both practical support and companionship in one go.

What does a shared week look like?

The table shows a realistic split for an 85-year-old with moderate loss of independence, supported mornings and lunchtimes by an agency, and sharing her flat with a master's student who is home most evenings during term.

Passing on information without blurring roles

Agencies often keep a liaison notebook in the home. With the host's consent, the housemate may jot down a practical observation, such as an almost empty fridge or a restless night, but never records care tasks they are not supposed to perform.

SAAD, SSIAD and the new combined services

In France, home help services, known as SAAD, cover everyday living tasks, while home nursing services, SSIAD, provide care on prescription. Since a reform launched in 2022, these providers are gradually merging into single home autonomy services combining help and care.

Paying for professional help: APA and tax credit

The personalised autonomy allowance, APA, funds part of the care hours under a plan set by the local département. In 2026 the remaining cost qualifies for a 50 % income tax credit on home services, capped at 12,000 euros a year plus 1,500 euros for each household member over 65.

How APA is assessed and what it pays for

APA at home is open to people aged 60 or over assessed in dependency groups GIR 1 to 4. A social and medical team from the département visits, measures independence, looks at the living environment and proposes a care plan; the user's contribution then depends on income.

The care plan never pays the housemate

The plan can fund care assistant hours, day centres, personal alarms or equipment. It is never used to compensate the young housemate, whose presence rests on a separate private agreement with no link to the dependency assessment.

Making the two roles work together

1. Review the current care plan and the hours actually delivered.
2. Present the homeshare project to the care agency to avoid misunderstandings.
3. Write into the agreement what the housemate will not do: washing, transfers, feeding a dependent person.
4. Arrange a meeting between the housemate and the main care assistant.
5. Agree a simple use of the liaison notebook, with the host's consent.
6. Ask for an APA reassessment if dependency increases, rather than leaning on the housemate.

Frequent pitfalls

• Cancelling professional hours as soon as the housemate arrives.
• Asking the housemate to cover for an absent assistant during holidays or strikes.
• Letting the assessment team assume the housemate is a family carer.
• Choosing homesharing when dependency already requires qualified night care.
• Not telling the agency that someone new now lives in the home.

Your questions on home care and homesharing

These answers are for older people already supported by home care, their families and young people thinking of moving in with them; precise APA rules vary from one French département to another, so local confirmation is always worthwhile.

Can a housemate's arrival reduce the APA care plan?

The team takes the people around the host into account during assessment. It is therefore worth explaining clearly that the housemate provides no personal care and may be away, so the plan stays based on the host's real needs.

Can the host employ the housemate as a care assistant?

Legally it can be done through direct employment, but it merges two relationships: a job contract and a homesharing agreement. Most charities advise against it, because a dispute as employer would also wreck the shared home life.

Whom should the housemate call if the assistant fails to turn up?

The housemate contacts the agency or the family, following the agreed list, without taking over washing or dressing. They can keep the host company and check there is something to eat while a solution is found.

Should the housemate meet the home care team?

A brief introduction at the start of the homeshare prevents a lot of friction. The assistant learns who lives in the flat, the housemate learns her schedule, and both know whom to alert if they are worried about the host.

What happens when dependency increases?

If the host needs help at night or for every transfer, homesharing reaches its limits. The family then requests an APA reassessment, considers a night service or short-term respite care, and the charity helps the housemate decide whether staying still makes sense.

This moment is best prepared at signing: a clause providing for a review after a hospital stay or a loss of independence stops the housemate feeling guilty about leaving, or staying on while quietly taking over a role that was never theirs.