Songpa-gu Receives Applause for Project Organizing Homes of Elderly with Hoarding Disorder

Customized Support Including Waste Disposal, Cleaning, Organizing and Storage, Wallpapering and Flooring, and Disinfection Through Professional Services

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Songpa-gu (Mayor Seongsoo Park) is carrying out the 'Socially Isolated Household Residential Environment Improvement Support Project' targeting low-income households living in unsanitary conditions with accumulated belongings due to dementia, hoarding disorder, and other causes.

Since 2019, the district has been conducting residential environment improvement activities for the health of residents struggling with hoarding, including elderly people living alone with dementia in the area.

Over the past two years, comprehensive services such as cleaning, wallpapering and flooring, disinfection, and organizing storage have been provided to 25 vulnerable households.

This year, 10 low-income households experiencing difficulties in daily life and social relationships due to hoarding disorder have been identified and selected, and the residential environment improvement support project will officially begin on March 22.

First, customized support such as waste disposal, cleaning, organizing storage, wallpapering and flooring, and disinfection will be provided through professional companies.

Additionally, households requiring psychiatric counseling and treatment during the improvement process will be linked to Songpa-gu Health Center’s mental health welfare services for psychological counseling and treatment support.

Furthermore, organizing and storage education will be provided to the recipients, and follow-up monitoring will be conducted to help them maintain a clean living environment independently.

One household that received cleaning services last year was a single-parent family with an elementary school son and a daughter with intellectual disabilities. Various daily necessities were piled up inside and outside their semi-basement home, filled with discarded items and spoiled food to the point where there was no space to step, creating an unsanitary environment and health threats such as fire risks.

At the first consultation, the household was passive and defensive, but through various supports such as cleaning, garbage removal, recycling separation, cleaning, and disinfection, their residential environment improved.

In the follow-up consulting (organizing and storage education), they expressed gratitude, saying, “We are very happy that our home, which we couldn’t touch, has been cleaned. Now we have the will to clean it ourselves.”

Seongsoo Park, Mayor of Songpa-gu, said, “We will actively identify and support households in need by joining forces with various organizations,” and added, “We will do our best to build a tight welfare safety net so that everyone can live a healthy life as a member of the community.”

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