Supporting customers through hoarding

This week is National Hoarding Awareness Week, and at Salix Homes, we’re raising awareness of hoarding – a mental health condition that can affect people’s ability to live safely in their homes.

The national campaign runs from 12-16 May and aims to highlight hoarding disorder, a complex mental health condition that can severely impact a person’s wellbeing, relationships, and safety. The campaign highlights the importance of breaking down stigma, promoting empathy, and encouraging individuals to seek support without fear of judgement.

Last year, we introduced our new Customer Support service in response to a growing demand to better support our customers with complex needs. Our dedicated Customer Support Officers aim to provide practical, person-centred support for customers with a range of issues such as hoarding, mental health issues and difficulty managing their homes.

One of the first success stories for the service, includes a customer whose home had become severely cluttered due to hoarding behaviours.

The condition of the property meant that vital safety checks couldn’t be carried out, and our teams had been unable to gain access despite repeated attempts. Traditional routes like enforcement or external support referrals to our partner agencies hadn’t worked, and the customer felt overwhelmed by the scale of the issue.

That’s when our Customer Support Officers stepped in. Building trust with the customer over time, they arranged specialist hoarding support, including a company experienced in hoarding clearance. We worked closely with the customer to make steady, manageable progress.

As a result, the property has vastly improved, long-overdue safety checks have been completed, and essential repair work is underway. Ongoing support is being provided to help the customer maintain their home and prevent issues from building up again.

Sue Sutton, Interim Executive Director of Customer and Landlord Services at Salix Homes, said: “This case is a powerful example of why we created the Customer Support service – to offer the right support, at the right time, for the people who need it most.

“Hoarding Awareness Week serves as an important reminder of the challenges faced by people living with hoarding disorder, and how crucial it is to provide compassionate, person-centred support. By listening and responding to individual needs, we can help people to better manage their homes and improve their quality of life.”

To find out more about how we’re helping our customers, visit our You Said, We Listened, We Improved page.