LEE COUNTY, Fla.- Lee County is proving to be a state-wide leader in attacking the problem of hoarding. It has a task force that Thursday held a seminar for government and private agency workers. They learned about a very difficult problem.
"This is an ingrained behavior, sort of like heroin addiction or alcoholism," said Mike Titmuss, chief of code enforcement for the city of Fort Myers. "We have some hoarding cases that go on for years. Sometimes the people will even move out of one house on a block, and move all their stuff to another house down the street. It's frustrating."
Hoarding is defined as keeping things and/or animals in a house, to the point that the resident cannot live normally. Often, a secret or deep trauma drives a person into the disorder. They refuse to throw away anything, and often attach value to things like plastic cups. Some also hoard animals, for fear the dogs and cats will not have a home otherwise..." More
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