The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging unveiled a new Aging Committee Majority Staff report shedding new light on the effect that hoarding disorder has on older Americans and our communities. The report, entitled “The Consequences of Clutter: How Hoarding Disorder Affects America’s Older Adults, First Responders, and Their Communities,” details the results of an Aging Committee investigation into hoarding disorder, a condition that leads people to accumulate more objects than their homes can accommodate and affects as many as 14 million people in the United States, disproportionately older adults.
The investigation examined the factors that lead to hoarding disorder among older adults and the effects that it has on older adults and their families as well as local governments and first responders. In the report, the Senate Special Committee on Aging also issued a series of recommendations for how federal agencies can better respond to hoarding disorder and support affected older adults and their communities.
Thanks to the Massachusetts Association on Mental Health and their Older Adult Behavioral Health Network for highlighting the report for MHAC and other partners. The report includes many stories and statements from Massachusetts-based councils on aging, Aging Service Access Points (ASAPs), boards of health, and older adults with lived experience around hoarding disorder.