[40M][72M][67F] How would you handle this situation?

A lot of circumstances go into this. So this will be long.

In 2014 I bought a home with a mother in law apartment. (An apartment with separate utilities, separate entrance etc.)

In 2016 my mom and dad moved into it, my dad couldn’t work because of some legal problems. He had lived his whole life under a false ID because of some stuff with the mafia in the 60’s.

My mom works at a call center making $15 an hour.

I wanted to help them out so I let them stay rent free and paid the utilities. (Mom paid the electric and internet bills.)

In 2019 I got cancer and eventually a bone marrow transplant. This meant I couldn’t work and my wife had to sign an agreement not to work for 1 year in order for me to get the transplant. (I needed a caregiver.) I made 50k a year and she made 35k a year. So we were not wealthy by any means. Just comfortable.

Now we had no income for 2020, and then only her income 2021-2022. So money got very tight.

I went back to work may of this year, and am making 52k. So we are back to where we were before the cancer. Minus inflation and we have no savings now.

At the start of 2022 I finally convinced my dad to come clean with social security so he can get his retirement. It was a long hard road with ALOT of work for me, but I finally got all his income he had working his whole life moved over to his real name. And his retirement was approved, it was back dated to October last year. So he got a check for 21k. Awesome! And he will get $1500 a month.

On one side, I want them to enjoy a little financial freedom for the first time in their lives.

On the other hand. I want my own family to have some good things after years of hell.

Would it be an asshole move to ask for $500 a month rent now that they have a decent income?

I COULD rent that apartment for about $1200 a month but would never ask them to leave.