I am looking at other options for my dad who currently lives at an Assisted Memory Care facility. He recently had to move out of Assisted Living to Memory Care. $4800 per month and this Memory Care facility is asking me to also hire a sitter to basically do what I already pay them to do. There are not many Memory Care places here in South East GA.
My dad has Parkinson's/Dementia/short term memory loss and he is 79.
I am looking to buy a tiny home, trailer or RV to place in my locked and fenced backyard and have a sitter come in to care for him. Just wondering if there is someone already doing this?
Think about trying to handle this in a camping trailer.
Now with a mention of a tiny house or RV, not a good recommendation. A caregiver needs room to work with your Dad. The shower situation is difficult because it is usually a shower over a toilet, and no room for the caregiver to be able to help out. One couldn't get a wheelchair in such a tight spot. Plus some elders get claustrophobic as they age, my Mom did.
Tiny homes and RVs often require lofted beds and tight spaces. This may be hard to manage for someone with mobility issues. If he becomes wheelchair bound the bathrooms are unlikely to be wheelchair accessible.
I am not saying that bringing your dad home would be impossible, there is nothing magical about an assisted living you cannot recreate in home with enough money and resources. What you need to realize is by taking on this job you are, for all practical purposes becoming an assisted living administrator. You will be in charge of hiring multiple aides, coordinating care, keeping him healthy, keeping him fed and entertained on top of whatever other jobs you may already have. You will not be able to easily take a vacation from this job and it is 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This may go on for years. If looking at your situation this sounds feasible and desirable I would focus my search around fully accessible homes with a space for an aide to stay with him at night. Chances are, when you run the numbers you may find the cost savings are much less dramatic than at first glance.
I have read other posts here of folks who have done this, but usually it was of issues beyond the basic feasibility. I did a quick search but could find only this fairly recent post:
https://www.agingcare.com/questions/anyone-tried-camper-or-motor-home-for-able-parent-430229.htm
I think you're wise to plan on home care if you did bring him to your property, but would suggest you check with your insurance agent as well to determine what might be necessary for liability insurance. When I investigated hiring a worker who wanted to be paid as such (vs. being an independent contractor) to come and clean my father's home, my insurance agent told me if we did that, I'd need to get a professional workers' comp policy for the liability issues.
If you have someone through an agency, it avoids that insurance issue as the agency should have liability insurance of its own.
Would you have 24/7 care? That might be necessary. Memory care in a facility would provide a broader staffing level, with more workers to provide the care needed. Is this part of your plan, or were you thinking of one person? If the latter, I don't think that would be consistent or adequate for a memory care level.
Also, have you done any kind of break-even analysis? I.e., the cost of an RV or small home prorated over the estimated time of your father's life? I don't mean to be crass, but the acquisition cost vs. the monthly facility cost needs to be addressed. If you rented an RV it might be cheaper, but if you purchased or had a tiny home built, that's a much bigger expenditure.
Another factor would be title and ownership. If title to a home is vested in your name, you'd need to address IRS and state regs to determine if you could take any homeowner deductions, such as a homeowner's property tax credit as we have in Michigan.