THE PROBLEM
Hoarding generates health and fire hazards and poses a problem for everyone. The challenge is finding means of dealing with it within the framework of cooperative principles.
Most hoarders do not recognize or acknowledge that they have a problem, and so others must step in to help ameliorate and hopefully turn around the situation. Hoarding is considered a mental health issue because it is involuntary and unconscious, and requires self-awareness remediation as well as “extreme cleaning” of one’s unit to remove fire hazards.
Individuals whose apartments are de-cluttered tend to fill them up all over again during the following year if their impulses are unabated, so it is best to incorporate therapeutic assistance in tandem with cleaning. In this way self-awareness and self-governance take hold—along with, hopefully, friendly and constructive guidance.
Photo reference guides to hoarding
https://www.woodsworthcoop.ca/index.php/hoarding-a-photo-reference-guide/
SOLUTIONS
Toronto Hoarding Support Services Network offers help to people who are struggling with hoarding. There is advice, self-help and a list of services.
https://www.torontohoardingnetwork.ca/
VHA Agency
VHA: Visiting Homemakers Association
https://www.vha.ca/services/clutter-hoarding-support/
416-482-4603
City of Toronto: For clients in Toronto, they have a Hoarding Support Program offered through their Community Support department. For information on the Hoarding Support Program, see Community Support Programs page or call 416-489-2500 ext. 4192.
The Hoarding Support Program helps individuals regain control of their homes by providing support to reduce clutter when housing stability is at risk but before a crisis presents. The program utilizes a supervisor and volunteers to provide hands-on help, teach strategies for reducing clutter, and stabilize housing.
The City of Toronto pays for the service as prevention of homelessness.
Management should send a letter to the member telling the member they are at risk of losing their home if they do not clean up their unit, since they are in violation of the tenancy agreement. It can be a warning letter, not necessarily an eviction letter. The original letter goes to the member/client and a copy goes to VHA. The letter is essential.
It can say something to the effect that “Further action will be taken if the matter is not dealt with in an effective manner within the next four [suggested number] weeks.”
The VHA suggests that the hoarder have a friend or relative to help fill in the personal background and situation. The VHA does its own assessment before making its commitment because financial resources are limited. Its funding may run low in September, but in compelling cases, they are able to find other discreet sources of funding. Their finances are flush again beginning in January.
Deep cleaners will: De-clutter and discard items; wash walls, floors and windows, do laundry in wholesale quantities, clean and sanitize large appliances, cupboards and closets; prepare the home for pest and bedbug treatments if needed, though they do not do pest control themselves. NOTE: Drug needles or any hazardous items need to be removed first.
A hoarding member CAN call the VHA voluntarily if they so desire, but it is a rare event since hoarders are typically opposed to cleaning their environment.
Toronto Central Healthline lists services.
https://www.torontocentralhealthline.ca/listservices.aspx?id=10906
Ongoing Help after decluttering
Dixon Hall offers home support programs. Costs are low. Home-makers/ Personal Support Workers help seniors remain independent in their own homes by providing valuable homemaking services such as laundry, vacuuming, and light meal preparation.
To learn more about Homemaking and referrals, contact: Tracy James, Intake Coordinator at intake@dixonhall.org or 416-863-0499 x 3222
https://dixonhall.org/seniors-services/
UNIQUENESS OF SITUATIONS
The inner needs of members who hoard differ from each other. Their faculties and their situations need to be addressed individually. For example:
Do they acknowledge having a problem? If not, can they be led to this understanding?
Are they compliant or non-compliant with the demands placed on them?
Do they have personal supports in place to help them?
If they share a unit, is the co-sharer helpful or antagonistic to the change in behavior?
Are they on medications? Do they need medications?
Do they have a doctor? Do they require a doctor?
Are there compounding problems?
BEGINNING THE PROCESS
Following are a few suggestions from Lenore Cabral of the VHA. The approach she suggests may sound too gradual to some, but since it is the least threatening it tends to extract the greatest results:
1. Contact the member by letter, and let the person know s/he is in contravention of the housing agreement. Ask the person to clean up their unit in keeping with policy guidelines. They are encouraged to engage the help of anyone they wish. Give them 30 days to comply, after which time their unit will be inspected. There is no “or else” attached to this letter.
2. The office manager or an assigned officer/liaison visits the unit in 30 days, booking an appointment beforehand.
3. If there has been no compliance, let them know, in writing, of the agencies and services that are available to them, including home-visit cleaning and counseling (CCAC) and extreme cleaning (VHA). They are on notice to ask the assistance of a friend or neighbor, and the assistance of an on-site staff member is also offered to them to get the ball rolling. A complete cleaning is an eventuality, preferably with their assistance. Within this 30-day period, there will be at least two checkups to see whether progress has been made.
4. The next move is up to us. The co-op can insist that the CCAC come in for home visits to help the hoarding member move ahead. If the person does not comply, then the VHA is called for an extreme cleaning if the unit is an immediate hazard.
More information from Toronto Hoarding Network
https://www.torontohoardingnetwork.ca/help-and-support/
Can you evict a hoarder in Ontario?
https://www.torontohoardingnetwork.ca/evict-hoarder/
SOME SUGGESTIONS
VHA makes these further suggestions:
1. Begin with one unit at a time. Do not take them on all at once. Test the waters and the process.
2. Draw a distinction between an UNSANITARY unit and a HOARDING unit. If it is unsanitary, then perhaps only the VHA need be called in.
3. Have a facilitator/family member or friend/liaison in place to help with the process throughout—to help ‘interface’ between the client/member and the agencies. This individual would do well to check in every two weeks to monitor progress and ascertain whether more dire steps need to be taken to safeguard the unit. This person would be the same with each hoarder in an institutional setting, but in a co-op, such helpers would likely be different from one case to the next according to the hoarder’s personal relationships. When a CCAC worker comes on home visits, for example, this assistant might be present with the approval of the hoarding member—or the member could discuss the matter immediately afterward with the liaison.
IF WE CALL THE CITY FIRST…
The Health Inspector would be called in from the Public Health Department. If the unit poses a fire hazard the client will be told the unit will be cleaned immediately. The City holds both management and the co-op legally responsible, according to Lenore Cabral. Both are now culpable. If the client is non-compliant that could mean eviction, forcing the client to go to the Housing Tribunal and drawing out an antagonistic process.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
VHA says that even with 1:1 intervention the relapse rate is about 50%. This is why READINESS is so important, and why it is worth investing the time to lay the groundwork…the more the better. Hoarding has a lot to do with orchestrating a familiarity and comfort level with one’s surroundings, and losing this sense of stability can be traumatic for the hoarding personality.
Hoarders who are not compliant are, however, usually willing to heed letters of warning, motivated by the fear of homelessness. But alarmed responses do not change hoarding behavior. The behavioral aspect is learned over time, which is why therapeutic assistance is recommended to help make the cleanliness long-lasting.
From the Maintenance Committee – October, 2014; some updates October, 2021 and March 2024.