On July 2, US Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), chairman of the US Senate Special Committee on Aging, released an Aging Committee Majority Staff report shedding new light on the distressing effect that hoarding disorder has on older Americans and their 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, Casey also issued a series of recommendations for how federal agencies can better respond to hoarding disorder and support affected older adults and their communities.

Hoarding disorder is a mental health condition that causes people to accumulate more objects than they need. The disorder impacts roughly two percent of the general population, while it affects about six percent of those over the age of 70. Chairman Casey’s report found that hoarding disorder has serious consequences for older adults and communities. For older adults, those consequences include health and safety risks, social isolation, eviction, and homelessness. For communities, the consequences include public health concerns, increased risk of fire, and dangers to emergency responders.

The report includes a series of recommendations for ways the federal government can increase support to communities that are contending with hoarding disorder, including expanding access to treatment for the condition, providing local officials with more extensive guidance and training to support afflicted individuals, and expanding the scope of tracking and research about how hoarding disorder is affecting individuals and communities.

To download the full 207-page report, click here