This Full House

August 31, 2010 | Community News | Archive 2010

United Way's support for Canada's first ever hoarding program is helping Winnipeg seniors stay safe in their homes and connected to the community.

Before the complex issue of hoarding became the subject of news headlines and reality television, United Way of Winnipeg has supported a one-of-a-kind program that assists seniors whose behaviour and living conditions threaten personal safety, isolation and eviction.

Age & Opportunity' This Full House program - in operation since 2005 - is incredibly innovative, says CEO Amanda Macrae. "There was nothing else like it in Canada...and there's a huge need for it," she says - a need identified by a number of stakeholders including Winnipeg's fire and health departments, tenants, landlords and Manitoba Housing.

One reason hoarding has become such a buzzword is the number of media reports linking house fires, injuries and even deaths to the behaviour, says Macrae. "That's hoarding gone to the extreme and exactly what we're trying to prevent with this program." And while hoarding can impact every age and demographic, the behaviour is often associated with seniors 55 and older, says Macrae. This is also the time when homecare and other agencies begin getting involved, going into these homes and bringing what can be a very secretive issue to light.

A recent presentation by the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Centre of Manitoba pointed to a survey of elderly hoarders that found hoarding constituted a physical health threat in 81 per cent of identified cases. This included fire hazard, falling, unsanitary conditions and inability to prepare food. Between 25 and 40 per cent of people with OCD are compulsive hoarders.

Hoarding can present a significant health risk to others as well, says Stacey Miller, community services manager at Age & Opportunity. "You can imagine how it impacts your neighbours or the children living next door if the situation is severe." In an apartment, this often leads to an eviction notice, says Macrae. "You've got to clean up to stay."

Not to mention the isolation people may experience when they're hoarding, says Miller. "They haven't had people over in 20 years and they just don't mingle because of what they're trying to hide." This can also damage personal relationships and lead to anxiety, depression and broken families.

This Full House exists to keep seniors in their homes and out of danger, while reconnecting them to the wider community. As a result of the program, clients are also able to access home services previously denied because of the potential danger to providers. "It's a huge impact," says Miller.

"We average about 100 new referrals a year...probably just a small portion of what's really out there," says Miller. "The carryover (from previous years) is about 350. We get individuals calling, we get family members, fire, health, police, homecare - all types of referrals."

"[This Full House] saved my life. At one time I didn't care about myself but now I have my life back.
This is the first time in five years I have had a home." - Shirley

From the initial assessment, to clean-up, counselling, advocacy and follow-up maintenance, staff social workers provide support every step of the way. "Often, people don't have insight into [their behaviour]," says Miller. "They might not understand why they're being evicted or why people see a problem with how they’re living. The social worker shows them the health risks, the safety risks and works through that with them."

Building trust with hoarding clients is key, says Miller: "Some people haven't had anybody in their place for over 25 years so that's a huge step, even just to let somebody in the door."

Hoarding programs on television both help and hurt the cause, says Miller. "They draw attention to the problem and people see they're not alone. On the other hand, people have an expectation that our staff would go in and clean everything in a weekend and the issue would be resolved like it is in an hour-long show."

On the contrary, "It's about readiness to let go of some of these things; trying to understand maybe why you find value in an empty cardboard tissue box," says Macrae. "Otherwise, you're not going to create any sort of sustainable change. That's why it's so important for clients to be on board. Unless you're willing to meet halfway or do some hard work, it's not going to have long-term results that are going to be beneficial for everybody."

In terms of results, the best way to measure success is in the number of evictions avoided, says Miller. "In the past year, I think in all situations, we've avoided eviction."

Even just making it possible for healthcare and other service providers to re-enter the home is a significant step, says Miller. "We had one client who needed eye drops so badly, it was going to impact her sight, but homecare couldn't go in. That's huge. So we did work with that situation and got [home-care] in there in time."

"Our partners and other agencies have told us if Age & Opportunity didn't offer programs like This Full House, they wouldn't know where to refer people or what to do," adds Macrae. They wouldn't have anywhere to go."

A message to Winnipeg about United Way's campaign Janury 5, 2012