I still remember walking into the house. A warm afternoon in Kingstanding, years ago, when I was working as a district nurse. The door creaked open, and I found myself in a living room where the light could barely reach the floor. Tins, papers, clothing, stacked and piled, tangled with a person living quietly beside the chaos. As I moved through that home I thought, this isn’t about hoarding “a bit of stuff”. It is a quiet cry for help that we did not always recognise.
That memory stayed with me. So, when I recently sat down with Heather Matuozzo of Clouds End CIC, based in Birmingham, it struck a deep chord. Heather told me of the hundreds of people her organisation supports, people living with a condition that isn’t often seen, largely misunderstood and rarely treated with the urgency it deserves. Her dedication reminded me of those homes I visited as a nurse, the terrified faces behind sometimes locked doors, the abandoned relationships, the shame.
Today I raise the issue of hoarding disorder in Parliament, not as a fringe matter, but as a mental health condition hiding in the shadows of our medical, social care and housing systems. In 2018, hoarding disorder was formally recognised in Britain as a distinct mental health illness, yet it remains one of the most overlooked. It can affect 2% – 5% of the population, that is roughly 1.2 to 3 million people in the UK.
From the frontline of my nursing career, I witnessed the knock-on effects. The blocked doors, fire risks, moth infestation, neighbours’ complaints, and social isolation. Local authorities and NHS services intervened, but almost always at crisis stage, after years of accumulation. Support was patchy, funding limited, and the response inconsistent.
Clouds End CIC is doing tremendous work in Birmingham to fill that gap under Heather’s leadership. They meet people where they are, help build trust, coordinate with housing, health and fire services. But they are stretched. Resources are limited; demand is rising.
The challenges fall into four key areas.
First, public health and safety. Hoarding creates risk not just for the individual but for their neighbours and the emergency services who respond.
Second, public awareness. We cannot fix what we do not identify; we must train housing officers, social workers, paramedics, fire crews, and community nurses to recognise hoarding as a mental health issue.
Third, the support gap in mental health services. Treatments specifically for hoarding are scarce and under-resourced. Many fear asking for help because they fear eviction, loss of tenancy, social judgement.
Fourth, the legal and housing dimension. Too many cases are locked into eviction proceedings or hazard notices rather than therapeutic intervention. The legislation we rely on is outdated, the Public Health Act 1936 still used to label premises “filthy and verminous” rather than to treat a person in crisis.
So today I ask the Government: will it develop a national strategy on hoarding disorder?
A strategy to provide national guidelines, consistent across England, to equip all frontline workers; to bring housing, health, fire, social care and the third sector together in integrated effort; to invest in research and data collection so we know what we are dealing with and can allocate resources wisely. Our manifesto commitment to recruit 8,500 extra mental health staff and to deliver a 10-year mental health plan must explicitly include hoarding disorder.
Because prevention is far more humane and cost-effective than fire-fighting. Because addressing the root trauma and mental health dimension offers hope where only crisis response currently exists. Because organisations like Clouds End CIC are doing the work, and they must be supported, not left to plug a gap alone.
When I walked into that home all those years ago, I did not speak of “hoarding disorder”. I saw someone trapped in a world of their own making and sleepless nights ahead. Now I know the term, but the reality remains the same. The person behind the clutter needs compassion, clarity, a pathway out. We have the chance here in Parliament, here today, to bring this condition into the light, to replace judgement with understanding, and offer a hand-up rather than a warning notice.
The time has come.
Those with Hoarding Disorder deserve compassion, help and support
