How big is the hoarding problem in Chatham-Kent? That's what the municipality is trying to find out because there's very little information available to allow for a proper community response.
Director of Chatham-Kent Employment and Social Services Polly Smith told CK News Today that hoarding is a public health and safety concern and first responder training is the first step before the dangerous issue can be completely tackled.
Smith's report going to council on Monday evening stated that hoarding is a mental illness and can cause fire hazards, infestations, eviction, and homelessness. The report also noted that hoarding can be life threatening to the occupant and emergency responders during any type of rescue scenario.
Smith said hoarding is an extremely complex situation and next steps need to be developed.
"If it's a danger, if they're in danger, we're concerned that there's a potential fire or EMS can't access somebody," said Smith.
Smith said data is being collected on the prevalence of hoarding in Chatham-Kent and a recommendations will come to council at a future date, including how other communities respond to hoarding.
"It's going to take a group effort and we don't know that we even have the services in the community. So, we might need to bring those here," she said.
Smith said the municipality still helps the few hoarders they know about and offers support.
The hoarding recommendations were to be complete in January, but the pandemic and the Wheatley explosion delayed the process because emergency and social services were busy dealing with those.