Community Development Project: Critical Analysis of Hoarding Issue

This essay presents a critical analysis of a community development project in Australia focusing on 'Hoarding and Squalor Safety Cleans vs Enforced Cleans.' It identifies and applies key community development concepts and frameworks, demonstrating their integration into social work practice. The analysis covers the roles of social workers and other professionals, emphasizing the importance of ethical guidelines and values such as respect and non-judgment. The author reflects on their role as a community development researcher, detailing their contributions to creating a database for future research. The essay also discusses the Ecological Theory and community participation, highlighting their relevance to addressing hoarding and squalor as systemic issues rather than individual pathologies. The author's personal feelings, learning experiences, and the strengths of the community are also explored, providing a comprehensive overview of the project and its implications for community development and social work practice. Desklib provides access to a wealth of similar solved assignments and resources for students.

Running head: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY PROJECT
RESEARCH PROJECT ON HOARDING AND SQUALOR SAFETY CLEANS VS
ENFORCED CLEANS
Australia is known for its community based campaigns, initiatives and projects that
strives to alleviate the plight of people especially the community members through imparting
education or initiating projects that focuses on woman empowerment or projects that are targeted
to alleviate health condition among the aboriginal population in Australia (Frost, Hristova,
Steketee & Tolin, 2013). These are reflective of the community issues that concern the people of
Australia. On such illustration of community campaign is Hoarding and Squalor Safety Cleans vs
Enforced Cleans in the community. The community research project on hoarding and squalor
safety cleans vs enforced cleans was conceptualized with the aim of addressing the issues of
cleanliness in Australia. According to the Catholic Community Services statistics it has been
found that more than 1 million Australians are prone to hoarding and squalor types of behaviors
in their private sphere (home). Between the span of 2009 and 2012 there has been a rise in the
number of people who have been associated with various community programs to deal with the
hoarding and squalor issue. The referrals of this programme are not limited to the housing
support programs and at the same time mental health recovery (Hepworth, Rooney, Rooney &
Strom-Gottfried, 2016). People who have to live in a squalid living environment should be
acknowledged and supported that would enable them in managing the behavior so that they
would be able to inhabit safely with the minimal risk and the community (Lawrence, 2016).
Community organizing is an important as it has the power to bring in transformation in
the community that would strive for the common good of the society. In addition to it, another

1COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
key objective of community organization is to turn citizens into strong leaders who are
associated with the community-based organizations (Baldwin, 2016). This practice is embedded
historically, philosophically in the core concepts of the public life that includes the organization,
relationships, leadership and power. It has been found that people who live in the hoard or are
engaged with squalor work are associated with a broad range of career. They are usually part of
the marginalized sections of the society or may at the verge of homelessness. (Ife, 2013).
Hoarding refers to the behavior by a person that is evidenced in the vast collections of the
different items and objects that have been discarded (Hepworth, Rooney, Rooney & Strom-
Gottfried, 2016). On the other hand, squalor refers to the living environment. It has been found
that if a person hoards animals or organic matter, the hoarding environment would eventuate.
The hoarding behavior in a person and the low health status of the person occurs along with
other mental health conditions (Brisbane, 2014). Social work practice and community
development projects have focused on the importance considering the person who is the victim
of hoarding at the epicenter whilst resolving the issue (Padgett, 2016). The person should be
considered an important part of action decision making and planning. It has been found that if a
person who has been found to be compulsively hoarding would be reluctant towards items that
they would be able to see extensions of themselves. The purpose of this essay is to identify and
apply key community development concepts and frameworks to a project and demonstrate
integration to social work practice.
The Issue
Squalid environment and hoarding behavior do not reflect on the financial position of a
person or the concerned community. It is considered a behavioral mental health that needs to

2COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
diagnose or that it can be treated (Parry, Harryba & Horsfall, 2015). It is reported that prolonged
exposure hoarding will lead to squalor. Some of the potential risk that can be caused due to
hoarding and squalor in a person’s life is personal safety, mental health, disability, sanitation,
housing and building safety (Ife, 2013). In Australia, the social workers need to abide by rules,
regulations and work ethics enshrined by the International Federation of Social Workers and
Internal Association of Schools of Social Work. The aim of the social work profession is to
ensure empowerment and freedom of people for enhancing their well-being. It has been found
that hoarding living behavior and squalid conditions can pose severe challenges in the lives of a
person that requires laws, policies and looking into the daily requirements (Parry, Harryba &
Horsfall, 2015).
My role
As a community development researcher, I would be committed to the well-being of the
human kind and would adopt methods that would maximize the development of the human
potential and satiation of the needs of the human beings through a commitment in working with
the First people of Australia (Healy, 2014). My goal would be to enable people achieve the best
levels of their personal and social well-being. I would aim for positive change in the community
that would foster the growth and perpetuate the development for the human beings. Adherence to
the ethical guidelines indicates that there needs to be the identification of the ethics and values
that underscore the ethical social work practice. The core value of professional social work is to
respect the human dignity and in providing human service for the fulfillment of the autonomy,
justice and the well-being of the person. For example, I was respectful towards the team
members as well as my supervisor. I would engage building the community for the common
good and the key objective would be the cultivation of the citizens as leaders (Rothman, 2018).

3COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
For example, I would encourage the community members through my supervisor to initiate
activities that would mitigate hoarding and squalor (AASW - Australian Association of Social
Workers, 2018). As a community development researcher, I would be respectful and non-
judgmental towards whilst engaging with my supervisor and my teammate. For example, my
role in this project is to create a database that would be an outcome of the primary data
collection, official records possessed by the officials in the area especially seeking help from the
social workers. In addition to the primary data records, the already existing secondary data
sources would also enrich the database (Payne, 2016). This database would be helpful for the
future researchers who would be working on similar area.
My feelings during the project period:
I felt I am not compatible for this project. It was a learning experience working
with my teammate as I learnt the value of coordination (Frost, Hristova, Steketee &
Tolin, 2013). I was able to live up to the expectations of my supervisor and she was
contended with the work I have done on collecting the database. She informed that this
work will be further used for developing research projects and implementing slight
changes in the policies for the community development.
Missed part: My values
 What are my values (respect and nonjudgmental)
 Why they are important to me and in this project with example and reference.
 What I have learned in this project??? Example and reference.
Ecological Theory top address the issue
The Ecological Theory or the Ecological Systems Theory refers have had a long history
in the scholarship and praxis of social work. Ecological Systems Theory can be traced to the

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multiple intellectual sources that are specific to the organismic biological ecology, human
ecology and the social survey movement in social work and the information theory. Ecological
theory comprises and adds to the humanistic dimensions to the social and the general systems
theories (Wannen, 2016). The essence of the ecological theory is that people interact in real life
and the territorial habitats that have a renewed emphasis of the social work. The theory is
concerned with the web of life that is present between the systems and the subsystems. An
ecosystem would comprise of people, their lives and the situations in their life and the issues of
dysfunction and well-functioning behavior that is an outcome of the interaction. The ecological
model is applicable to the different situations and the client may be a corporate person, an
individual, community or the welfare service system (Thompson, 2017). There is another
behavior that is identified with the ecological model in which the attributes of the person-client
relationship. There is subsystem within the larger environment for the sufficient and the
inequitable exchanges. The ecosystem of the client comprises of the community researcher, the
client, the family or the significant other of the client, the neighborhood and the entire
community (Forde & Lynch, 2015). The ecosystems theory emphasizes that the social
functioning of the client is interdependent on the environment considering that the client is an
intrinsic part of the ecosystem. Unlike the traditional models of social work practice that may
view hoarding and squalor as individual pathology, the application of the ecological framework
to the present condition would be helpful in locating that hoarding and squalor is an outcome of
the malfunctioning of the ecosystem. For example, in the light of the research, I would try to
understand the ways hoarding and squalor is an outcome of the system (Rothman, 2015). This
theory would not construct the client as deviant or pathological. At the micro level of the project,
I can see that the individuals exhibit the tendency of collecting substances and they will forget to

5COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
discard them. These huge volumes of the items are hoarded that will impair the functionality in
the domestic sphere (Netting, Kettner, McMurtry& Thomas, 2016). On the macro level, it can be
witnessed that there is negligence of the household maintenance both at the internal as well as
the external level. For example, the community members were not at all careful in taking care of
their household. As a community development researcher, I feel that the ecological theory is in
consonance with my values as a social worker. This is because I do not believe in labeling or
shaming my clients and shift the burden hoarding and squalor on them (Tattersall, 2015).
Community Participation:
The term community participation refers to the involvement of the community in a
community development project. People will participate in projects that would empower and
would allow them to exercise their agency. People would not be interested to participate in
projects that have detrimental effects on their lives (Teater, 2014). Community participation is
deemed as important for the programmes concerning emergency sanitation in situations people
are not aware about the implications of filthy surroundings and the sanitation facilities that needs
to be implemented to respond to the problem. In this project, I was assigned the role of
community development researcher and I was not directly interacting with the clients. I had the
opportunity to engage in an active participation with the supervisor. For example, I was engaged
in the needs assessment of the community development research by providing my inputs about
the different strategies for the programme and through the prioritization of the goals (Rasmussen,
Steketee, Frost, Tolin & Brown, 2014). I felt quite responsible in working in the research project
as I learnt the importance of working with a team, sharing the responsibilities and compensating
for the lacunae of the team members. For example, in case a team member was not aware

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about the nuances of the problem of hoarding and squalor I shared my knowledge with
them to enrich the data (Hepworth, Rooney, Rooney & Strom-Gottfried, 2016). I respect the
commitment and vision of my supervisor towards the project. For example, she was motivating
us to deliver our best performance throughout the project (Burt, 2017).
Community Strengths:
Community strength is defined in terms of the resources possess by the community
secondly it connotes to the well-being of the individual. These resources are concerned with the
economic capital, human capital and the social and the institutional capital. Community strength
comprises of amoral dimension related to the community by identifying the democratic nature of
the society (Mataix-Cols, 2014). For example, being a community development researcher I was
not directly associated with the participants in the community however, my involvement is
instrumental in shaping the policies (Healy, 2014). It has been found that people suffering from
hoarding and squalor do not consider hoarding as a problem because they enjoy collecting
articles and objects and feel those are important for them (Burt, 2017). Therefore, I suggested
that clutter from the community could only be eliminated with proper service along with the
involvement of the community in realizing the veracity of the problem. For example, the
community members were sensitized about hoarding, squalor, and the harmful
consequences it can bore on a person and the community (Reamer, 2013).
Social Capital building
The notion of social capital in community development project refers to the binding
factor develops between the people in the group and the societies through sharing their

7COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
experience, beliefs, philosophies and their ideals (Reamer, 2013). According to Coleman social
capital is contingent on the social structures that pervades between people by enabling people to
adopt actions for strategies that would empower developing strategies that would empower them
(Burt, 2017). Therefore, social capital is dependent on the human relationships that exist between
the people to strengthen the community network (Lawrence, 2016). Given the nature of the
community development research, the community members can be involved in the project by
providing them adequate knowledge about the implications of hoarding and squalor and the ways
they can mitigate the problem. I conveyed to my supervisor that the community members should
be rewarded for the change in positive behavior so that they can curtail this negative practice of
hoarding. For example, the community members can be acknowledged in a public gathering and
honorarium may be provided to them as a recognition of their behavior (Rasmussen, Steketee,
Frost, Tolin & Brown, 2014).
NEOLIBERALISM as a business model that impacts the project
Neoliberalism is characterized by the rule of the market where a private enterprise is not
bound by the government irrespective of its social implications on the environment (Spolander et
al, 2014). In a neoliberal state, there is more emphasis on promoting the private owned
enterprises rather than the intervention of the government in providing for the marginalized
sections of the society (Spolander, Engelbrecht & Pullen Sansfaçon, 2016). In a neoliberal
climate that is defined by the absence of the fair prices on the goods, it is found that the
community members veer towards enforced cleans that are cheap, easy and can be accomplished
quickly rather than the safety cleans that can turn out be costlier, time consuming and resulting in
longer outcomes (Padgett, 2016). Neoliberalism has another implication on the project, as there

8COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
may be shortage of adequate staff and funding that pose impediment in the progress of the
project (Morley, 2016).
Ethical issues and considerations
According to previous studies on hoarding, social workers need to be careful whilst
working with the hoarders and the squalors (Payne, 2015). Australian Curtin University has
reported that people who are engaged in hoarding find it difficult to sustain their attention and
the different aspects of decision-making (Beckett, Maynard & Jordan, 2017). For the hoarders
everything that is possessed by them holds value for them and therefore, it is difficult to
convince them in discarding the items. Therefore, it is considered to complex and challenging to
work with people who are compulsive hoarders. According to the AASW for a professional
social worker being ethical amounts to respecting the client and collaborating with the client in
resolving an issue. There is a need to incorporate strength-based and the person-centered
approach in promoting the social change. In regard to this community development research
ethical guideline like not disclosing the personal details of the clients, seeking informed consent
of the community members and taking into consideration confidentiality will govern this
research (Kenny & Connors, 2017). I would subscribe to the principles and the aspirations
enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other conventions
that have been derived from the Declaration where we would work with the individuals, groups
and the communities for both policy reform and the advocacy programmes for the achievement
of equitable access to the economic, social, environmental and the various other resources. I
would abide by the ethical guidelines enshrined in the AASW that upholds the democratic

9COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
principles like belief in the equal value of all human beings, remain committed towards the
respecting others that includes equity, fairness and the justice (DuBois & Miley, 2013).
Conclusion
This community development research taught me to respect people with different views
and understand them from their perspective. I learnt the importance of respecting the team mate
who are associated with the project and taking into consideration their views in continuance of
the project. I leant the ways to critically reflect on the issues and identify the structures that
contributes to hoarding and squalor rather than shifting the blame on the individual. There needs
to be a thrust on public awareness regarding hoarding that can influence the lives of the people in
a positive manner. There needs to be an acknowledgement that hoarding problems cannot be
resolved forcing people to acclimatize to the societal standards and norms of cleanliness. It has
been found that there is paucity in the research and guidance on working with hoarding. As a
professional community development researcher I believe in being non-judgmental and
respecting the community members without making them feel alienated from the research.
Strength-based and person-centred approach that would be helpful in dealing with issues related
hoarding and an ecological theoretical framework would appropriate. The ethical issues
enshrined in AASW would be abided throughout the course of the research.

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