Yongsan-gu Officials Work Hard for the Generation with Hoarding Disorder

On the 30th, Hope Welfare Support Group's 'Integrated Case Management' Service Supports Major Cleaning for Hoarding Crisis Households... Provides Mental Health Counseling and Monitoring as Needed

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] “I was thinking of postponing cleaning because of the novel coronavirus. But the heating here isn’t working right now. We had to clean before the construction, so our staff came to the site first.”

These are the words of Park Young-ran (53), head of the Hope Welfare Team in Yongsan-gu, who took on improving the living environment of a hoarding household on the 30th.

Yongsan-gu (Mayor Seong Jang-hyun) is gaining positive responses from residents through its project to improve the living environment of hoarding households.

The work on this day took place at the home of Lee Young-sik (alias, 62) in Cheongpa-dong. Fourteen people participated, including 11 public officials from the district office and the community service center, and 3 volunteers. They gathered the miscellaneous items, trash, old appliances, and unused belongings that Mr. Lee had accumulated and took them outside the house. One side of the alleyway quickly filled with trash.

The officials and volunteers worked up a sweat for two hours. Some cleaned the rooms, some the kitchen, and others the refrigerator and bathroom. The once dark house gradually brightened. As the number of items decreased, the usable space became wider than ever before.

Seeing the noticeably changed house, Mr. Lee said, “I was uncomfortable because I couldn’t throw away and kept piling up things, but now I think I can live well. Thank you for helping me.”

This work was part of the ‘Integrated Case Management’ service led by the district’s Hope Welfare Support Group (Welfare Policy Division, Hope Welfare Team).

Integrated Case Management is a project that helps households in economic or mental crisis become self-reliant by linking and providing customized services such as welfare, health, employment, housing, and education.

It is a representative public-private governance model that the district has carried out for several years.

The welfare planner from the Visiting Community Service Center (Chatdong) visits the site to identify crisis households, and then the Hope Welfare Support Group follows up with case management and thorough cleaning.

Usually, volunteers from the Seoul Metropolitan Yongsan Senior Welfare Center mainly participate, but on this day, the number of volunteers was minimized as a preventive measure against the novel coronavirus infection. All participants wore masks while working.

Since 2016, the district has been conducting the living environment improvement project for crisis households, benefiting a total of 18 households. In addition to cleaning, the district also provides mental health counseling, monitoring, and disinfection services for hoarding treatment (for applicants only).

Seong Jang-hyun, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, said, “We provide living environment improvement services targeting ‘hoarding crisis households’ that accumulate trash and miscellaneous items in their residences. Public and private sectors will join forces to help vulnerable neighbors live more comfortably.”

Welfare Policy Division (☎2199-7065)

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.