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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Amelia Hill

‘I’m never going back to living like this’: how an innovative project is helping hoarders

A long sitting room piled high with boxes and random items
The home of a person with a hoarding behaviour in Gloucester. Local authorities have no statutory duty to intervene, but many are increasingly trying to help. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian

Carol has been trying to clear her home for two years but in her maelstrom of dishevelled possessions, there is still nowhere to sit – and barely anywhere to stand.

To her, however, things look great. She is delighted that the chaotic towers of tumbled clothes, yellowed newspapers, pebbles and innumerable bags stuffed into other dusty bags are now waist- instead of shoulder-high: six months ago, these perilous mountains teetered close to the stained ceilings, brushing the thick cobwebs that still hang from broken light fittings.

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