A Merseyside housing association is calling on the wider housing sector to join it in making a national pledge to support hoarding tenants.

Prima is leading the movement to standardise the care given by registered providers and local authorities to people suffering from the complex mental health condition.

It follows discussions among the 13 housing association members of the Housing and Hoarding Innovation Group, which Prima set up in 2025.

These are Alpha Living, Cobalt Housing, Family Housing Association, Liv Housing, Magenta Living, Onward Homes, Prima, Regenda Homes, Riverside, South Liverpool Homes, Torus, Westfield Housing Association and Wirral Methodist Housing Association.

The group has been working on a national charter to standardise the care provided, which includes how staff are trained to identify hoarders and offer support, and the education of contractors who work in hoarders’ homes.

Prima has committed to the pledge and is now asking other landlords from across the country that are interested to get in touch with National Hoarding Awareness Week starting on Monday, 11 May.

With over six million people living in social housing and a conservative estimate from community interest group Hoarding Disorders UK that 2% to 6% of the population are hoarders, the pledge has the potential to help hundreds of thousands of social housing tenants.

The call comes after feedback Prima received from residents suffering with hoarding disorder.

In 2023, the housing association set up a peer-to-peer support group called Bringing Hoarders Together that meets fortnightly in Birkenhead, Wirral where Prima has a high number of properties.

Having controlled her hoarding disorder, Prima tenant Ruth Cookson (see case study below) became a founder of the group that sees sufferers supporting each other and navigating challenges together.

Sustainment and Cohesion Manager at Prima, Jenny Devon, said: “Tenants and residents attending Bringing Hoarders Together meetings say there is currently a very inconsistent approach from housing associations and local authorities when speaking to hoarders and managing cases.

“They tell us the language, approach, systems and support varies depending on the organisation and also the people they speak to.

“Their real-life feedback has been invaluable helping us shape what the charter will look like.

“As hoarding takes place in the home, the sector is at the heart of the issue and perfectly placed to create a co-ordinated, compassionate approach which is what the pledge will provide.

“Social landlords are permanent fixtures in tenants’ lives and our ongoing relationships with them means we can offer long-term support so the more housing associations and local authorities that get involved in this movement, the better.”

Prima says cases need managing carefully given it is a sensitive mental health condition while balancing landlords’ legal duty to ensure tenants and their homes are safe and compliant.

Access to gas and electrical checks are made more difficult by hoarding and it can cause physical health problems too given it can create unhygienic conditions, damp and mould, infestations, trip and fall hazards, danger from falling or collapsing items, restricted access around homes and a fire risk.

Case study – Ruth’s story

Prima tenant Ruth Cookson lives in a top floor flat of a three-storey block in Leasowe, Wirral.

Her hoarding reached a dangerous level after Covid-19 which meant action had to be taken for her own mental health and so fire and gas safety check regulations were not breached.

Ruth said: “I have always been a hoarder even as a kid but it was in the past 10 years when my condition started to get really bad.

“In 2017 I came out of a bad relationship and then it got even worse with everything building up.

“The pandemic followed a few years later and after this is when I got help from Prima.  With their encouragement and support I managed to slowly but surely get on top of everything.”

Ruth is now involved in the Bringing Hoarders Together tenant and resident group to encourage others to take action to improve their lives.

“Speak to your housing officer,” she said.

“Pluck up the courage and say: ‘I’m a hoarder and I need help’ and your housing association will work with you to come up with a plan to tackle and then manage the problem.

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help – it is the best thing I’ve ever done.

“I can let people into my home now. I’m not opening my door and then hiding my face in embarrassment.

“If I didn’t ask for help my flat would still have been like a demolition derby with people having to climb over everything just to get in.”