Yangcheon-gu Provides Cleaning and Psychological Therapy Services for Households Suspected of Hoarding Disorder

One-Stop Service Providing Housing Environment Improvement, Psychological Therapy, and Relapse Prevention Monitoring for Suspected Hoarding Disorder Households

Members of the Dong Community Social Security Council who collaborated to improve the environment of households with hoarding disorder in Yangcheon-gu

Yangcheon-gu (District Mayor Lee Gi-jae) is promoting the ‘Clean House Support Project,’ which provides customized welfare services ranging from emergency residential environment improvement to psychological treatment and integrated case management for relapse prevention for households suspected of hoarding disorder.

Hoarding disorder, characterized by living in unsanitary conditions with accumulated items, not only causes social isolation due to severed human relationships but can also lead to fatal safety accidents, making community-level management urgently necessary.

The ‘Clean House Support Project’ identifies vulnerable households exposed to poor hygiene and safety risks due to accumulated household waste and provides linked services within 1 million KRW per household, including ▲case meetings and customized planning for the target, ▲emergency restoration and residential environment maintenance, ▲psychological treatment, and ▲relapse prevention monitoring (post-management). Since starting with 5 households in 2019, the district has supported a total of 27 households over five years.

In particular, for the most urgent ‘emergency restoration and residential environment maintenance,’ a one-stop service tailored to the characteristics and situations of household members is provided based on public-private cooperation with personnel from the local community security council, social enterprises, and self-support enterprises in the area. This includes removal of accumulated items, disinfection, pest control, wallpapering, flooring, sink, and boiler maintenance services.

Along with this, to prevent relapse and strengthen social communication capabilities, psychological tests, intensive counseling, and medication expenses are supported through psychological treatment linked with specialized institutions. Furthermore, to ensure continuous management beyond one-time intervention, ‘post-monitoring’ is conducted three times over six months after case closure to observe the cleanliness status and lifestyle changes of the target households.

Lee Gi-jae, Mayor of Yangcheon-gu, stated, “The Clean House Support Project will greatly help improve the quality of life for hoarding disorder households as well as overcome conflicts and activate communication among neighbors. We will continue to actively discover and support vulnerable groups in blind spots who need help so that they can receive timely benefits.”