A peer support group for hoarders in Wirral, Merseyside, run by Prima Group housing association, is offering a more empathetic approach to a condition that often leaves people terrified of seeking help. Members share stories of living without basic amenities like hot water, heating, or cooking due to fear of eviction if they allow repairs. Sian Cowley, 35, who has struggled with hoarding for decades, said: “I’ve lived without central heating for two years. A lot of us live without the basics like hot water, heating and cooking because we are too scared to get people in to do repairs because of the threat of eviction.”
Rise in Hoarding-Related Fires
A Guardian investigation found that since 2020, UK fire services have recorded a 78% increase in fires involving hoarding or where “dangerous and excessive storage” was noted. In London alone, more than 2,000 properties were flagged by the fire service last year due to hoarding levels, up from 1,200 four years earlier. Hoarding was formally classified as a mental health condition by the World Health Organization in 2018.
Many hoarders say they are scared to seek help because they fear eviction and feel trapped in dangerous homes. Laura Miller, 65, who was offered help after falling on stairs over clutter, said: “You’re better off being a drug addict. You’re better off being an alcoholic. Programmes about hoarders on TV have just perpetuated it as some kind of entertainment, taking the mick out of poor people.”
National Hoarding Pledge
Prima Group has launched a first-of-its-kind national hoarding pledge for housing providers, promising to work with residents and get them help instead of spending thousands on enforced clearances or eviction court battles. Jenny Devon, a sustainment and cohesion manager at Prima Group, said: “What happens a lot is they get a skip and send people to clear the whole place. But it’s that person’s stuff. It’s such a personal thing, it’s not rubbish. It’s that trinket linked to the trauma, or to the parent who’s died. It just needs more empathy.”
Jo Cooke, director of Hoarding Disorders UK, said that in nearly 15 years of supporting hoarders, she has never known an enforced clearance or eviction to help. “When the threat [of clearance and eviction] is looming, it will only increase hoarding behaviours. It leaves hoarders feeling violated and they will mistrust any professionals who could support them,” she said. According to the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (Iriss), almost 100% of people who experience a property clearance without behavioural therapy will regress to hoarding behaviour more rapidly.
Peer Support Success
Cowley said social services spent hundreds of pounds on mandatory cleaning for her, but added: “They would be better spending their money on peer support groups like this, because this is the only thing that has made an impact on me in 20 years.” Ruth Cookson, 53, a Prima resident who helped set up Bringing Hoarders Together four years ago, said she was thrown out of her family home at age 22 due to hoarding. After her home was flagged during a gas safety check, she ignored letters fearing eviction. During Covid lockdown, she sought help. “I just couldn’t cope. I didn’t want to hoard, but I didn’t know where to turn. I wouldn’t admit I had a problem, I buried my head in the sand,” she said.
Cookson said having a trusted housing officer and going at her own pace was essential. Workers who came to clear her property were rude and told neighbours about her home’s condition. She preempted them by posting on Facebook herself. Now her home is safe and clean, she can finally get the cat she wanted, and she helps others in the support group. “I’m here to say: if you think you can’t do it, yes, you can do it. I’m living proof you can,” she said. *Names have been changed.
