Hoarding is a complex and difficult issue that Town Council officers, HDB officers and even MPs sometimes deal with in public housing estates. I have personally visited residents who hoard items inside their units or along the common corridors.
Recent fires in housing estates resulting from cluttered flats and corridors have highlighted the need to more expeditiously enforce the clearance of hoarded items where the hoarding situation presents a threat to public health and safety.
I asked the Minister for National Development a Parliamentary Question on how many times agencies have intervened to enforce the clearance of items hoarded within HDB flats where the hoarding situation presented a threat to public health and safety. I also asked how these clearances were executed and how long they took.
After Senior Minister of State for National Development Sim Ann replied to my questions, I asked two supplementary questions:
“I note that there is currently a multi-agency approach to hoarding cases and it often involves engaging volunteers to persuade the hoarders or help clear their items. I am very grateful to the big-hearted work of these volunteers. But given that there may be urgent public health and safety issues at stake, does the SMS (Senior Minister of State) agree that there is a need to deploy more trained and experienced officers to lead the engagement of the hoarders and for paid workers to help with the clearance so that it can be done expeditiously?
Second, the SMS said just now that enforcement levers are being reviewed. What will be the scope of this review and will it involve putting more resources into dealing with this difficult problem, not just in terms of enforcement, but also in engaging the hoarders and their families?”
The full PQ that I filed is below:
*3391. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for National Development in each year from 2016 to date (a) how many times have Government agencies intervened to enforce the clearance of items hoarded within HDB flats where the hoarding situation presented a threat to public health and safety; (b) how were these clearances executed; and (c) what is the average time taken between the date the agency was notified of the hoarding situation and the date the clearance was completed.
