West Lothian Council is working with emergency and health services to look at the best ways to help hoarders, as they admitted the scale of the problem was not fully known
The Community Safety Board heard that hoarding - where people amass unmanageable amounts of possessions or rubbish has long been identified as an issue by housing officers.
While it’s become a popular staple of TV programmes, hoarding often remains unrecognised and secretive, but all consuming. It is anxiety driven behaviour which fuels social isolation and low self esteem.
It is often tied to self neglect, that is it is poor personal hygiene, dressing inappropriately or tending appropriately to medical conditions.
Lorraine Donnelly, one of the council’s area housing managers delivered a presentation to the board with Fire Service officer Elaine Dowie.
Mrs Donnelly, one of multi agency partners working on an action plan to tackle hoarding and self neglect, told the meeting: “Hoarding is now being recognised as a distinct mental health condition of its own. It can have a huge impact on a person’s ability to function independently and can carry a high level of risk for themselves and others.”
There are different types of hoarding. Hoarding of inanimate objects, of animals and data, with inanimate objects being the most common.
Mrs Donnelly said: “Some of the experiences I have had in the past have been where people have kept specific things like clothes, ornaments, newspapers or general clutter and household rubbish.
“Hoarding can also be associated with health issues, lack of hygiene and impaired ability and this can result in fire risk damage to property and can also have a serious negative impact on the individual, their family friends and neighbours.
“Hoarders often have a low insight into their condition and do not see their behaviour as problematic. As a result hoarders may not cooperate with efforts to amend their behaviour or clear out possessions.”
The main difference between hoarding and collection is that those with hoarding difficulties have strong emotional attachment to their objects which are generally well in excess of their real value. A hoarder may not recognise their behaviour as troublesome but a close friend or family member is often the one to suggest help.
Collectors on the other hand are proud of their possessions and keen to show them off.
Mrs Donnelly said: “Hoarders will not want people to see how they live and will have trouble forming relationships because of their need to hoard so social isolation is common.”
Elaine Dowie from SFRS told the meeting that in neighbouring Falkirk Council a part time support worker had been employed to work across the different agencies including the Fire Service and council on hoarding issues.
Ms Dowie said: “The extent of the numbers of people living in such conditions is not fully known. It is often only at the point of a crisis or emergency that people become known to us.”
Multi agency training in addressing issues associated with hoarding started in 2019 but was put on hold during the pandemic. It has now been restored to form part of the community safety plan which will operate until 2025.
Councillor Kirsteen Sullivan asked what had changed to make the issue more widely known and prevalent than in the past.
Mrs Donnelly said that it is not a new issue for housing managers. They have long had to deal with the issue in terms of gaining access to home for measures such as gas safety checks and alarm fittings as well as electrical safety checks.
“So it’s not that there are more instances, just that there’s more of a light being shone on the issue”, replied councillor Sullivan.
Among the proposals of the community service plan is the development of referrals pathways to help hoarders and their families and an information page on the council’s website.
A West Lothian Council spokesperson said: “Hoarding is now recognised as a mental health condition which affects people’s day to day functioning.
“The extent of the numbers of people who are living in such condition in West Lothian is not fully known, as often it is only at the point of a crisis or emergency that people become known to us.
“Council services such as Housing and Social Policy work with partners, such as the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, to support those affected, to improve their safety and reduce risks.
“Additional actions and activities to strengthen existing arrangements were agreed by partners as part of the 2022-2025 Community Safety Plan, and we now plan to develop a tailored West Lothian approach on how the partnership will work together to support those affected by the condition.”
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