Tools for squalor and hoarding

A new web-based toolkit is available to help sufferers of squalor and hoarding.

Launched last week, the Catholic Community Services initiative provides a directory of relevant organisations and a step-by-step intervention guide called ‘Pathway through the Maze’.

Senior Coordinator Susan Graham says squalor and hoarding are significant issues in Sydney City, which sees the largest percentage of referrals.

“We estimate probably between two and four per cent of the population actually experience squalor or actually are affected by a hoarding disorder, which can be chronic and life-long.

“They’re a whole group in society that have gone unrecognised and not had any specialist service provision,” she said.

“We have found that it occurs across all regions, across all socio-economic groups, all age ranges. It frequently starts at an early age in life and progressively becomes worse if strategies and treatment are not provided.”

The toolkit guides the user through a path of questions based on previous answers such as: “Are the utilities functioning? Is there open sewerage within the property?”

Answers offer advice and recommend referral to relevant agencies.

Ms Graham says the service is not about imposing values on others, but assisting those in chronically disadvantaged situations with needs ranging from psychological, physical, and emotional health, to legal, financial and property issues.

“They’re not people that are collectors that are admiring their collections, showing off their collections. They’re people who, as a consequence of this, their life is actually disintegrating.

“They often have numerous council complaints, they’ve often been in and out of the Land and Environment Court, there are health consequences, there are safety consequences, there are fire risk consequences – they are not people who are actively functioning in life,” she said.

Catholic Community Services have seen over 300 people in the last 18 months suffering from squalor and/or hoarding, with many taking as long to recover.

“My service undertakes the long, hard work with people that have a hoarding disorder of assisting them to reduce the volume that they have in their house and actually do the sorting, and for those people that is the hardest part of the intervention because of their attachments with the items inside the house and their inability to discard items,” Graham said.

The toolkit is part of the Adequate Accommodation Advocacy Project, funded by Council for more than $29,000 in 2008, which also included a resource bank, education campaigns, and a National Squalor Conference in November last year.

By Lawrence Bull