This page provides a quick summary. For full detail, please read the full policy below.
This policy explains how we help residents who collect and keep lots of items in their homes (called hoarding). We want to help them stay in their home safely while making sure everyone in the building is safe too.
What is hoarding?
Hoarding is when someone finds it very hard to throw things away and keeps collecting more items. This can make their home cluttered and sometimes unsafe. Some people have a mental health condition called hoarding disorder, but we don't need a medical diagnosis to help someone.
How we help
We visit and offer help when someone can't use their home properly because of all the items, when the items create health and safety risks, or when the hoarding affects someone's wellbeing.
Our approach is always respectful and understanding. We know hoarding can be caused by difficult experiences and that people often have strong emotional connections to their belongings. We work with each person to make a plan that works for them, involving other services like social workers, fire brigade and health teams when needed.
What we do
We start by checking the risks - looking at how much stuff there is, which rooms are affected, what types of items are being kept, and whether it's creating fire risks or other dangers. We also check if it's affecting the building or other residents.
We then make person-centred action plan by working with each person to create their own plan. This includes fire safety checks and we set review dates to check progress. We involve family and friends if the person wants us to. As part of this process, we carry out a person-centred fire risk assessment, which links to our Building Safety Policy approach.
We work closely with other services and might need to contact the fire brigade for safety visits and advice, social services if we're worried about someone's welfare, environmental health if there are cleanliness issues, or mental health teams for support. When we share information with these services, we follow our Data Protection and Information Governance Policy.
When we might take stronger action
We may need to take legal action if we can't get into the property to do important safety checks, if the items are damaging our property, if there's a serious health, safety or fire risk, or if we receive an official notice from environmental health. In buildings that are higher risk (7 storeys or 18 metres and above), we might use contravention notices as set out in our Building Safety Policy if residents don't meet their safety responsibilities.
If someone can't make decisions for themselves
If someone can't understand or make decisions about their situation, we work with the local authority safeguarding team and follow our Safeguarding Policy. Any decisions made for someone who lacks mental capacity happen through best interest meetings with various agencies and the person's representatives.
Support for our staff
We know dealing with hoarding situations can be emotionally difficult for our staff, so we provide counselling services through our Employee Assistance Programme, mental health first aiders for immediate support, and regular support meetings.
Training and learning
All our staff learn about hoarding so they can better understand and help residents who are affected by it. We also learn from our experiences to make sure we're always using the best approach.