No more room, so elderly hoarder sleeps outside Woodlands flat for 10 years

She's got a place to call home, but she can't go back to it.

Over the past 20 years, an elderly hoarder has accumulated so many items in her Woodlands Drive flat, she can no longer enter it, Shin Min Daily News reported on Wednesday (Sept 27).

The items the 68-year-old woman has collected have now overflowed from her home, sealing her wooden door shut and preventing her front gate from closing.

Now, she sleeps on pieces of carboard placed along the corridor outside her flat — and has purportedly done so for over a decade, Shin Min reported.

Speaking with reporters who visited her outside her home, the woman shared that she picks up objects from around the block, with the intention of selling them.

She has collected a variety of things, such as clothes, disposable cutlery, plastic bottles, suitcases, and many more.

There were even fresh oranges left in some of the boxes that lined the exterior of her home, the Chinese evening daily reported.

When asked if she knew about the dangers of hoarding, however, the elderly woman kept silent.

Shin Min reporters also noted a foul smell emanating from the hoarder's collection.

She's gentle and doesn't disturb us: neighbours

When approached by the Chinese publication, residents shared some background on the woman.

The woman purchased the four-room flat and even held a job before she became a hoarder, said a neighbour who declined to give their name.

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"Her older brother drops by to see her on occasion, but she's mostly alone," the neighbour added. "She sometimes sells some tin cans to recyclers, but collects most of them for herself."

Volunteers now deliver food to the hoarder once in a while, the neighbour added.

In the past, residents there had given the woman food after seeing her struggles.

"She's gentle and doesn't disturb us, so residents aren't hostile towards her," the neighbour said. "My mother also cuts her hair for her personal hygiene."

However, her hoard has attracted pests — the neighbour also shared that they once saw five or six cockroaches skittering around their home.

A neighbour, surnamed Zhang, also told Shin Min that the woman's clutter had caused a problem before.

About 20 years ago, a fire had started after the hoarder left items around the lifts and stairwell.

Zhang recalled: "I remember that the fire caused a power outage in the block and corridors were charred. Many people helped put out the fire."

He also shared that authorities have helped to clear the mess several times, removing large amounts of hoarded objects from the woman's home each time.

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"But every time after the authorities leave, she would run downstairs to pick them back up, and was even seen rummaging through trash cans in the middle of the night," he said.

Hoarding disorder is a condition that produces a compulsive urge to acquire unusually large amounts of possessions with significant difficulty in discarding them, according to the National University Hospital.

In the elderly, hoarding is sometimes seen with links to dementia. Early evaluation is advised to prevent hoarding from getting worse.

While psychotherapy can be used to treat the disorder, medications are sometimes prescribed to deal with the accompanying disorders of anxiety and depression.

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khooyihang@asiaone.com