Clearing the Clutter: Room for Improvement
Leyla is on placement at Origin Housing, working with them to investigate the issue of hoarding in supported housing
Teddy bears. Mountains of teddy bears. Not what I was expecting to find on my first encounter with a hoard. But as I’ve quickly learnt over the past four months at Origin Housing, what people keep is never the real story.
As I’ve gone further and further in my journey towards understanding Hoarding, it’s become clear that the answers lie in the psyche of the Hoarder. Affecting between 2–5% of the population, Hoarding Disorder is now recognised as a mental illness in America, and it is expected to be published in the IDC-11 (used by health professionals in the UK) in 2017. Whether that means properly funded solutions will follow is another matter, but it’s a (long overdue) step towards a constructive solution.
In fact, I firmly believe that it’s only by being constructive and compassionate (to echo George’s blog) that hoarding can be fully understood and dealt with properly. These words, however, very seldom apply to current approaches to tackling the issue.
Since it was acknowledged as a major fire risk in the last couple of years (25% of all fire related deaths are caused by hoarding), most organisations have taken a drastic approach to the situation. This means that the typical response to finding a tenant hoarding is to arrange a forced clear out, also known as a ‘blitz clean’. The terrifying name is well-earned: all of the hoard is removed in one swift process, leaving the flat bare and empty. Councils and housing associations can then claim they have done their job: “tick — you’ve reduced the risk of fire, ‘collect £200 and pass Go!’ ”. Except that 97% of these clean-sweeps result in re-hoarding, and most of those see an increase in the level of hoard. It’s such short-term thinking, and really compromises the mental health of those involved. Those found to be re-hoarding are often then evicted and are subsequently at risk of entering the homelessness cycle.
Given that each blitz clean costs roughly £30,000 (when you factor in court and repair costs, among others), it can’t even be argued that it’s a particularly cost-effective solution either. When I first got interested in Year Here, one of the things the attracted me most was the combination of positive social impact and business efficiency, and I think Hoarding provides a perfect platform to combine these two strands. Given the staggering cost and relative inefficiency attached to the less compassionate solution of a blitz clean, the more understanding alternatives become not only more humane, but actually more financially viable as well.
Unfortunately, this relies on mental heath services being given more funding and resources to be able to support people with Hoarding Disorder, and until this happens housing associations’ attempts to help will only be able to go so far. Over the last 4 months, I’ve seen baths filled with letters, stuffed black bin bags stacked floor to ceiling and a biblical swarm of flies. But on the bright side, I have also seen a lot of teddy bears.
If you need any support with hoarding related issues contact the HoardingUK helpline on 020 3239 1600.
