Helping people struggling with hoarding

Last year, Swale Borough Council helped create safer homes for 178 local households struggling with hoarding.

This National Hoarding Awareness Week (11- 15 May), the council are highlighting the work being done to help local people live safely and comfortably in their own homes.

Hoarding is a complex mental health condition that can make homes unsafe and unsuitable to live in.

The council’s Staying Put service steps in to provide practical help and support to residents facing these challenging situations.

Sometimes a person’s possessions accumulate so much that getting through rooms can become difficult, even on occasion making it impossible to use the homes’ front door.

Everyday items like microwaves, baths, and stairs can become unusable storage areas, cutting off access to essential facilities like showers and toilets, and upper floors.

These conditions can pose serious health and safety risks, including potential injury from falling items or an inability to escape in a fire.

The council’s officers, working alongside experienced and trained contractors, visit residents to understand their needs.

They approach each situation with sensitivity, easing any embarrassment or anxiety residents may feel, and work together to find solutions.

Support is tailored to each person, and council officers work with the NHS, Kent County Council’s social services, and local charities to make sure the person receives comprehensive support.

Council officers help residents clear unwanted belongings, which are then recycled where possible or donated to charity. Once space is created, the service can help arrange necessary repairs, such as fixing leaks or reflooring.

If individuals are not ready to part with their possessions, officers help them to store items more safely in boxes, aiming to reclaim as much living space as possible.

The team also carries out deep cleans, creating a safer and more hygienic environment, and helps assess properties for any pest issues.

Hoarding is an often-misunderstood condition; it is not simply messiness but a condition that can deeply affect a person’s well-being and safety.

Many people the council works with are elderly or vulnerable and may be coping with loss, health conditions, or other mental health challenges.

Cllr Hannah Perkin, chair of the council’s housing, health and communities committee, said:

“Our Staying Put service is a fantastic resource available to our residents and continues to prove just how valuable it is - helping hundreds of people improve their quality of life every year.

“We are supporting hoarding awareness week - this year and every year - because we understand that it isn’t just ‘messiness’ or ‘laziness’, hoarding behaviours form part of a complex mental health condition that can severely impact a person’s physical and mental health.

“I would also like to recognise the bravery it takes for people to reach out to us for support and help, our officers understand this and take the time and care needed to offer the tailored support our resident’s need.”

A resident who worked with the Staying Put service, who wished to remain anonymous, complimented the officers’ hard work:

“Organisations, I have found in my experience, are only as good as the people who work within them. I have found with Staying Put that I was listened to with courtesy, understanding, empathy and humour. I was not judged, lectured or spoken down to.

“This meant that I was less stressed and uncomfortable with any of the help that was suggested and implemented, and my life has been so much fuller with the assistance that was provided to me.

“I would wholeheartedly recommend Staying Put and its personnel who liaise on your behalf with the teams and bring order out of chaos. Even the contractors that can provide the work on the ground, are of similar calibre so you're passed from one safe pair of hands to another.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. If you or someone you know is struggling with hoarding visit the council’s staying put webpages.”

Each year hoarding awareness week focuses on:

• Hoarding & Education - improving training, knowledge and understanding
• Multiagency Approaches – fostering collaboration across services
• Breaking the Stigma – recognising hoarding as a mental health condition

And this year they are bringing these three elements together by working towards a standardised national approach to support.

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