Living with family

Some people affected by mental illness find living in the family home and having the support of family valuable. Living at home often involves communication and compromise. Family members need to take into account the amount of support that you need but also allow you a suitable amount of independence.

In addition, it involves taking into consideration the amount of support a family can practically give and time they may need to themselves. A balance must be made between caring and family life. If you and your family decide that your best option is to stay in the family home, additional support can be obtained from the local mental health team. In addition, family and carers should have their needs assessed by the community mental health team. This could include the need for respite breaks.

Carers assessment factsheet (161 kb)

One option open to families who wish to help a member of the family to live independently is to buy a property for them to live in.

It may be possible under the right circumstances for the person living in the house to claim housing benefit and pay their relative rent for living in the property. This can be put towards a mortgage taken out on the property.

This obviously needs a lot of thought and advice from a solicitor and or accountant to deal with the implications of tax and welfare benefits in the short and long term.

The Rethink Advice & Information Service has been contacted by people who have experienced problems in claiming Housing Benefit to live in a relative’s property. The local housing department may argue that the arrangement is ‘non-commercial’ or that the tenancy is contrived in order to take advantage of the Housing Benefit system. The Rethink Advice & Information Service can provide further advice about this.