I am the Director of a Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) program with New Directions for Veterans.
We take homeless, disabled vets directly off the streets and place them in individual apartment units with access to wrap around services. In a "normal" world we would work with property management companies to provide quarterly unit inspections which gave residents and service providers time and information needed to assist with clutter and sanitation. Since COVID-19 hit in March of 2020, these units have not been inspected. With some projects opening up in-home services again, staff is noticing that we have a few emergency hoards that will result in loss of housing if they are not cleaned within the next three months. I am not allowed to send my staff in alone to clean these units at this point, and at the end of the day I would like to provide a more comprehensive plan that includes clinical services along with the clean up services so that we can work on preventing another build up and they can learn to reduce hoarding behaviors.
My projects are in Los Angeles county, and they are all subsidized housing projects, meaning that there is an income limit to qualify, therefore the residents live on a very low fixed income and would not be able to pay for professional clean up services. After researching on the internet, I am coming up with very little in the way of volunteer or non-profit aid for hoarding situations. Does anyone know what my next steps might be in order to help these veterans before they are forced back into the streets?
Please Help! - AS