Oral answer by Ministry of National Development on suspected excessive hoarding in HDB flats

Feb 27, 2025

Question No: 7098

Question by: Ms Ng Ling Ling

To ask the Minister for National Development with regard to feedback received by HDB from residents on suspected excessive hoarding in a neighbour’s flat (a) what is the protocol for HDB officers to verify and ascertain if the excessive hoarding is true; (b) what is the existing coordination protocol between HDB and SCDF under the inter-agency Hoarding Management Core Group to mitigate fire risks associated with reported excessive hoarding in HDB flats; and (c) whether the Ministry will review and enhance both protocols.

Answer:

Generally, the Government does not interfere in how residents upkeep their homes, unless their actions pose health, safety or other risks to themselves or their neighbours.  At the same time, we recognise that residents have legitimate expectations that their living environment is clean, safe and orderly.  The need to balance these two considerations guide our whole-of-government approach towards the management of in-unit hoarding.

That is why on receiving public feedback about in-unit hoarding, HDB officers visiting the unit concerned need to seek the hoarder and/or his family’s consent to inspect the premises.  This often entails repeated engagements, as well as coordination with other frontline agencies who might already be working with the household on other issues, and with whom the hoarder and family have already built up a certain level of trust.  All these take time.

Where there is significant fire risk, HDB coordinates with SCDF to use its regulatory powers where needed.  For example, SCDF may order the owner to cease hoarding flammable items such as fuel.

Despite these efforts, there are cases where hoarders refuse to grant access for inspections or cooperate in decluttering efforts. The hoarding may also recur, as habits do not change so quickly.

To address such situations, the Government recently amended the Community Disputes Resolution Act (CDRA) to allow the Director-General (DG) of the pilot Community Relations Unit (CRU) to apply to the Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals (CDRT) to declutter the hoarded unit.  This is a measure of last resort, premised on public interest, after existing regulatory levers from frontline agencies have been exhausted, and the hoarder has failed to comply with a previous CDRT order to declutter.  The CRU aims to begin operations from the second quarter of 2025.

The underlying motivations and support networks of hoarders and their families vary from case to case.  There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and enforcement is only one of several measures.  A whole-of-society approach is needed to address hoarding in a more holistic and sustainable manner.  This is why the public, people and private sectors came together over the past year or so to form an Alliance for Action to manage hoarding, termed the New Environment Action Team or “NEAT” for short.  Through this platform, members can learn from and tap on each other’s strengths. So that collectively as an ecosystem, we identify hoarding cases early and provide more well-rounded support to hoarders and relief to their neighbours, in a sustainable manner.