Can I use the equity in my home to pay for assisted living, memory care, or other senior housing expenses?

For most families, the largest asset is the one with the front door, and when care costs arrive, that equity is the natural place to look. The question is how to unlock it: borrow against it, turn it into income, or convert it to cash. Each route changes the family's math and its future differently, and the right one depends on goals, age, and the home itself.

The equity options at a glance

Three main levers unlock equity. A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, lets you borrow against the home as needed and repay monthly. A cash-out refinance replaces the existing mortgage with a larger one and pays out the difference. And the home equity conversion mortgage, the common reverse mortgage, lets owners 62 and older draw equity with no monthly payments, repaid when the home is sold. All three keep the family in the home; they differ in cost, repayment, and risk.

Reverse mortgages: how they work

A reverse mortgage converts a portion of the home's equity into cash for owners 62 and older, with no required monthly payments while the owner lives there. Interest accrues on the balance, and the loan is repaid when the home is sold or the last borrower leaves or passes. The proceeds can fund care while a spouse or the owner remains in the home, but counseling is required and the fees and compounding deserve close reading. It is a tool, not a default.

HELOCs and cash-out refinancing

A HELOC is flexible and cheap to open, ideal when care needs are uncertain, but the line requires the house to remain affordable with the new payment. A cash-out refinance makes sense when rates favor it and the family wants a fixed structure. Both keep the home in the family, and both require the borrower to keep making payments, which is the exact thing a fixed-income senior may struggle with later. Run the payment against the care budget.

Selling to fund care

For many seniors, the cleanest answer is the sale itself: sell the family home, use the proceeds to fund assisted living or memory care directly, and leave the borrowed-money complexity behind. The sale eliminates the mortgage and maintenance, converts equity to cash, and often produces net proceeds that cover years of care. Our article on selling before assisted living walks the exact comparison most families need.

Match the plan to the family

The deciding question is what the family wants the home to become: a legacy asset to pass down, a source of care funding, or a combination? If a child will inherit the home, borrowed equity reduces that inheritance; if care is the priority, releasing the equity serves the living generation. Families who want both should talk to a financial planner about the bridge. Our legacy planning guide helps frame that conversation.