Compulsive Hoarding On The Homeless

Compulsive hoarding is the impulse to hold onto unnecessary items due to the idea that they hold some sort of emotional value. It is a severe problem that affects the United States and it can lead people to awful and unfortunate situations such as illness and even homelessness. Studies have shown that one in four people are hoarders with the leading causes being depression or loss of a loved one. It is also apparent that a large amount of the homeless population was evicted from their housing due to it being condemned from hoarding. For instance, my neighbor Sheila was evicted from her house due to her unfortunate hoarding problem and is now what society considers as homeless.
Sheila, before her unfortunate turnout, was a kind spirited woman and was very optimistic about how her life was going. She was almost a sister to me and my family was often invited over to her house for dinner parties, with her and her husband. Sheila’s house was small but it sufficed for her family of two and it was very well decorated. She had paintings and pictures hung up on
She would always say how her “house felt empty” and soon enough she cleaned out every picture of my uncle. Sheila eliminated everything that reminded her of my uncle. Every picture, every blanket, every piece of clothing, anything and everything went to the trash. Soon, she started to fill the empty void of what was her husband with unnecessary items, such as an excessive amount of clothing, gifts, and food that she never ate. Sheila became a compulsive hoarder, so to say, her house became a harbor of diseases and insects. Her house was flooded with garbage where at one point the mounds of trash grew to where it was no longer a home, but a maze to each and every room. Sheila’s sister inevitable filed a complaint which led to and ignored two weeks eviction notice, and then to my homeless