How many people care for a relative?
France’s statistics office for health and social affairs, the Drees, counted 9.3 million people regularly helping a relative in 2021: 8.8 million adults and half a million children aged five or older. Roughly one adult in six is involved.
Women make up 56 percent of adult carers. Support takes many shapes and often overlaps: 6.4 million carers give emotional support, 5.7 million help with everyday tasks and 1.3 million contribute financially, figures that show how much unpaid work keeps older people at home.
Exhaustion is well documented
Among 7.6 million carers of people living at home, the Drees judged in May 2023 that 1.8 million were the most heavily affected. A survey by the France Répit foundation, cited by the French social affairs inspectorate, found 15 percent of carers extremely tired.
What respite really means
Respite is time during which the carer hands over to someone else in order to sleep, work, see a doctor or simply breathe. It can take the form of a day centre, a short residential stay or a professional who steps in at home.
Where homesharing fits
Under the French homesharing contract created in 2018, the agreement binds the older householder and the young sharer; the family carer is not a party. Homesharing is therefore organised neighbourly support, not a funded respite service, and should be planned as such.
Public respite support in France in 2026
The respite allowance attached to France’s personal autonomy allowance, the APA, funds relief solutions up to 583.52 euros a year in 2026. The carer must be judged indispensable and irreplaceable, and the care plan must already have reached its ceiling.
Working carers may take carer’s leave, paid through a daily allowance of 66.64 euros in 2026. It covers up to 66 days per person cared for, with a lifetime limit of four relatives across an entire career.
In-home relief for up to six days
A decree of 19 August 2025 allows a single professional to cover up to six consecutive days at home. It targets carers of people with cognitive or psychiatric conditions combined with behavioural disorders, for whom changing staff every shift is especially disruptive.
Carer support and respite platforms
France’s second national carers strategy, presented on 6 October 2023 for 2023 to 2027, plans one platform per département for carers of older people. Between 2020 and 2023 their number rose from 186 to 223 for that group.
Comparing relief options
Each option meets a different need: a day off, a week away or regular evenings. The overview below sets out the main French schemes, their known funding in 2026 and the role, if any, that a live-in student could play alongside them.
| Option | Typical length | Funding | Possible role of the sharer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day centre | One or more days a week | Respite allowance, APA care plan | Welcome home in the evening |
| Short residential stay | A few days to a few weeks | Respite allowance, pension fund help | None during the stay |
| In-home relief | Up to six consecutive days | Depends on service and care plan | Extra evening presence |
| Carer’s leave | Up to 66 paid days | 66.64 euros per day in 2026 | None, the carer is there |
| Live-in student | Academic year | Contribution paid by the sharer | Shared evenings, reassuring presence |
How a housemate complements formal care
The value lies in regularity: a few fixed evenings when the carer knows their parent is not alone. That alone may allow them to rejoin a choir, have dinner with friends or sleep through a night without the phone on the pillow.
The 2020 study for France’s national pension fund is unambiguous: a sharer replaces neither home care nor nursing. When autonomy declines, the organisation must confirm that professional services are already in place before the arrangement continues.
A sample week
Take an invented but typical case. A father of 86 attends a day centre on Tuesdays, receives a care worker every morning and shares his flat with a nursing student present four evenings a week. His son, the main carer, regains two free evenings.
Setting things up in seven steps
The project is built with the person being cared for, never around them. The steps below, adapted by each organisation, help fit a sharer into the existing support network and avoid duplication with services the parent already receives.
- Obtain the agreement of the older person, who remains the decision-maker.
- Review the care plan and any respite allowance already used.
- Contact the local respite platform for neutral advice.
- Meet a homesharing organisation and specify the evenings wanted.
- Introduce the sharer to care workers and close neighbours.
- Write down who does what, including during university holidays.
- Schedule a three-month review with the organisation and the carer.
Who signs the agreement?
The older person signs with the sharer. If they are under a legal protection measure, the person in charge of that measure must be involved in the decision. The carer can attend meetings without taking the parent’s place.
Common mistakes in caring families
Exhausted families are sometimes tempted to see the student as a miracle solution. Coordinators describe recurring slippages that wear down the relationship and push the sharer into a role they never accepted when they first visited the room.
- Asking the student to give medication or help with washing.
- Cutting care-worker hours as soon as the sharer arrives.
- Leaving summer and exam periods uncovered.
- Passing instructions through the carer rather than the parent.
- Giving up the respite allowance in the belief it is no longer needed.
Protect the parent’s own voice
In caring families, decisions drift towards the carer. Yet homesharing works first through the relationship between the older person and the student. Letting them get to know each other without a permanent go-between protects both the parent’s autonomy and the sharer’s freedom.
Tell the assessment team
During the home assessment for the APA, mentioning the housemate helps professionals adjust the care plan. Evening presence can then be dovetailed with a day centre or in-home relief instead of overlapping with services already scheduled.
Carers’ questions about homesharing
Carers exploring this idea usually raise practical questions about holidays, money, dementia and their own role. The answers below sum up the points that organisations stress in their first conversations with families who are already stretched thin.
Can the sharer stand in while the carer is on holiday?
No. To go away for several days, the carer should arrange a short residential stay or in-home relief, both fundable through the respite allowance. The student, often away in summer, may at most cover some evenings if agreed in advance.
Does homesharing attract any public funding?
No public scheme pays for a live-in sharer; it is the young person who pays a contribution to the host. Respite allowances remain reserved for professional services, so the two can be combined without particular difficulty.
What if the parent has dementia?
The organisation first assesses whether homesharing still suits the situation. Where cognitive decline comes with behavioural symptoms, the professional relief introduced by the 2025 decree meets needs far better than an untrained student, however kind.
Can the carer choose the sharer instead of the parent?
They can give an opinion, attend meetings and ask questions. The final choice belongs to the older person opening their home. An arrangement imposed by the family rarely starts well and leaves the student in an awkward position.
Useful organisations and resources
- Respite platforms directory (France) — Public service search tool for finding the carer support and respite platform in each French département.
- Derby Homeshare with Two Generations (UK) — English council scheme matching older people with a spare room and younger sharers offering company and overnight presence.
- Cohabilis – network brochure — Brochure of the Cohabilis network and its member organisations supporting older hosts and young people.
Official and legal references
- Respite support within the APA – official French portal — Government page setting out eligibility and the 2026 ceiling of the respite top-up for indispensable family carers.
- New decree on carer respite – official French portal — Official summary of the August 2025 decree enabling in-home relief by one professional for up to six days.
- Financial help for family carers – practical sheet — Government factsheet updated in 2026 covering carer’s leave, its daily allowance and the respite allowance.