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On Collyer's Disease (AKA Collier's), i.e., Hoarding

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On Collyer's Disease (AKA Collier's), i.e., Hoarding

Postby TenantNet » Wed Dec 31, 2008 7:55 am

Collyer' Hoarding Cases: Mental Health, Fire, Health Team Needed
By Daniel G. Fish
NYLJ, December 31, 2008, page 3.

It is almost a certainty that in the career of every elder law attorney there will be a case involving a senior who hoards rubbish. These are cases where individuals collect items that appear to have no value, are completely unable to throw them away, and the collection interferes with the ability to live in the residence. It is much more than mere messiness. It is clutter that affects health and safety.

It is almost impossible to describe the condition of the dwelling until you have visited a client in this situation. Once you have experienced it, you will never forget the overpowering odor, the insect and vermin infestation, the inability to move in the apartment due to piles of newspapers and trash that reach the ceiling, and the countless animals in semi-starvation condition.

'Matter of Murray F.'

For those who have not already been involved in such a case, a sense of the physical condition can be obtained from reading the opinion of Judge Anthony J. Cutrona in The Matter of Murray F. and Marilyn F. 1

Evidence was presented to this court that Murray F. suffers from Collier (sic) Brothers Syndrome, in other words, he is a hoarder. Their apartment at 7201 Bay Parkway, Brooklyn, was stacked floor to ceiling with magazines, newspapers, garbage, old mail (from the Post Office) etc. There was severe insect infestation. Moreover, there were two dogs in the apartment who were allowed to defecate and urinate in the house. In sum, the apartment was an unsanitary, unhealthy, disgusting mess. The description of the apartment was confirmed by several photographs taken by the court evaluator.

The guardian in this case reported:

Murray completely rejected the notion that his apartment was a dangerous fire and health hazard because of possessions and trash piled from floor-to-ceiling throughout the whole apartment. During the visit I observed mice all over the apartment as they skittered over the heaps of old newspaper and other assorted trash - there were mounds of mouse feces everywhere and every square inch of the apartment was infested with cockroaches . . . . Living with Mr. and Mrs. F., amidst the clutter and squalor, are two dogs that are matted, covered with feces and appear to be in ill health. I believe that the dogs never go outside because they urinate and defecate on the hallway floor that was covered with plastic bags that were taped to the floor.

'Cabrini Terrace v. O'Brien'

A further view of the conditions is gleaned from Cabrini Terrace v. O'Brien,2 where the court begins the opinion by stating "Petitioner commenced this Collyer-type holdover proceeding against respondent Charles O'Brien, a rent stabilized tenant . . . "

The witnesses described the smell inside respondent's apartment as 'bad,' 'foul,' 'like garbage,' 'mildewy,' 'musty,' 'noticeable,' 'old,' and 'unbearable.' On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the worst, one witness described the smell inside the apartment as a 10. Respondent's neighbors left candles and incense outside their apartment because the smell emanating from respondent's apartment extended to the elevator. One witness testified that he had to wear a face mask because the smell inside the apartment was 'unhealthy.'

'Zipper v. Haroldon Court'

In Zipper v. Haroldon Court,3 the Appellate Division rejected the trial court's conclusion that foul odors were an "inescapable reality of urban life" and found that they constituted a nuisance warranting eviction. The court found support for its conclusion " . . . provided by the testimony of Lieutenant Meehan as to what he termed a 'Collyer Mansion'-like condition in the apartment, meaning that the apartment was dangerously cluttered with furnishings, boxes and debris."

Psychological Aspects

Attempts to deal with hoarding cases are met with two significant barriers; the psychological resistance of the hoarder and the tendency of outsiders to minimize the significance of the problem.

The psychological aspects of these cases are more puzzling than the physical conditions. The items that to everyone else are of no value are seen by the hoarder as priceless and irreplaceable treasures. The hoarder sees nothing wrong in the behavior. The suggestion that the items be thrown away can lead to very strong reactions on the part of the hoarder. It is as though the hoarder and all others are in parallel worlds that do not intersect.

Judge Cutrona in the Murray F. case experienced this dissonance and stated, "This is truly one of the most demanding cases that the Court has encountered in the Guardianship Part. It is a case study of the frustrations encountered in many of these situations, where, despite the best efforts of many different people, no solace can be found for the IPs or any of the other parties."

To those who have not had direct contact with the problem, hoarding behavior may seem to be romantic or no more serious than an eccentric, amusingly odd quirk. In fact, it seems to have a quixotic appeal to playwrights, demonstrated by "Clutter: The True Story of the Collyer Brothers Who Never Threw Anything Out" by Mark Saltzman; "The Dazzle" by Richard Greenberg; and "The Collyer Brothers at Home" by Mark St. Germain.

This literary connection is further evidenced by the fact that the behavior has been called Plyushkin's syndrome, after a character in Gogol's "Dead Souls," Havisham's syndrome, after a character in "Great Expectations" and Diogenes syndrome (Diogenes is considered one of the founders of Cynicism. He also is said to have become a disciple of Antisthenes, the former pupil of Socrates.)

The clinical term is syllogomania. The artistic fascination with the behavior leads to a glorification of the condition. The traditional personal autonomy analysis certainly has a place in evaluating these cases. However, when the effect upon others is considered, particularly those living in close proximity, the scrutiny changes because the behavior can have a profound negative effect upon others as a question of public health, animal cruelty or fire hazard.4

Conclusion

An attorney who is involved in a hoarding case will by definition need support from a variety of disciplines. The first may be someone with a professional understanding of the mental health aspects of hoarding. The team may include a heavy-duty cleaning company similar to the type used to clean up crime scenes, a landlord-tenant attorney, a clutter support group, a community hoarding task force, animal control, fire department, health department, and adult protective services.

The case law indicates that such cases are likely to be time-consuming and drawn out over a period of time that may be measured in years.

Daniel G. Fish is a principal in Daniel G. Fish LLC.

Endnotes:

1. 801 NYS2d 237 (Sup. Ct. Kings County, 2005). The procedural posture of the case was a motion by the ward for the removal of the guardian four years after the original petition was filed requesting the naming of a brother-in-law as substitute guardian. The trial court rejected the petition. The Appellate Division affirmed the trial court order at 818 NYS2d 467, App. Div. 2nd Dept., 2006. A further sense of the problem can be gleaned from a series of photographs found at the Web site of Bergfeld's Estate Clearance Service (www.bergfelds.com). The photographs are not of the Murray F. apartment.

2. 859 NYS2d 893 (Civil Ct. City of NY, NY Cty., 2008).

3. 835 NYS2d 43, (App. Div. 1st Dept., 2007).

4. Twelve firefighters were injured in a blaze in Sunnyside, Queens, on July 3, 2006 in a dwelling described as a Collyer-brother's-type mansion.
Last edited by TenantNet on Wed Dec 31, 2008 8:06 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Postby TenantNet » Wed Dec 31, 2008 7:58 am

Originally posted by Anna

The compulsive hoarding does not need to be as extreme as it was for the actual Collyer brothers for the condition to be referred to as a Collyer's condition by the FDNY, the NYPD, Housing Court, LLs & LL-lawyers an/or T-advocates. It involves the collection or failure to discard large numbers of objects even when their storage causes significant clutter and impairment to basic living activities such as moving around the house, cooking, cleaning or sleeping.
This is what LL is accusing this T of.

This T may not even have clutter; this is NY, LLs falsely accuse Ts of all sorts of things.

However, if T does have compulsive hoarding, T may not be aware of it or may not acknowledge that it is a problem (another symptom of the syndrone...).

In addition to helpful agencies listed by other posters, T can contact Cardoza Bet Tzedek Legal Services.
Clinic Hosts Interdisciplinary Conference on Compulsive Hoarding

Dr. Randy O. Frost

Nearly 170 legal and human-service professionals discussed the puzzling disorder, compulsive hoarding, and shared their experiences and resources. Sponsored by Bet Tzedek Legal Services, the conference featured Randy O. Frost, Ph.D. of Smith College, who delivered the keynote address. "For most of us, possessions provide a sense of convenience and comfort," said Dr. Frost. "People who suffer from compulsive hoarding lose the ability to judge the value of possessions and fail, therefore, to discard possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value. Living spaces that the person occupies are sufficiently cluttered to preclude activities for which those spaces were normally designed and significant distress or impairment of functioning results from that clutter."

Professor Frost presented several clinical examples from his research to help explain the phenomenon. "Compulsive hoarding manifests itself in three primary ways: compulsive acquisition, saving, and disorganization. It doesn't matter how much stuff any of us have but it is how we keep the stuff."

Conference workshops covered animal hoarding, mental health dimensions, legalsocial work partnerships, and victims of hoarders. "Lawyers are seldom aware of the expertise and resources that social workers offer, especially when representing difficult clients," says Prof. Leslie Salzman, a supervising attorney at Bet Tzedek. Professor Salzman was a cofacilitator of the legalsocial work partnerships workshop with Karen Bassuk, a social worker and program analyst at the Aging in Place Initiative of the United Hospital Fund. Ms. Bassuk challenged participants to reach out to each other, saying, "Often lawyers and social workers assume they can perform both roles [and] may not realize how much more effective a collaboration can be."

Conference panelists also included Housing Court Judge Ava Alterman '81; Henry Dubro, Jewish Association of Services for the Elderly-HUD 202 managing agent; Masha Friedman, ACSW, social work manager, Selfhelp Community Services, Inc.; Andrea Richardson, executive assistant to the assistant deputy director of operations, New York City Housing Authority; Andrea Risoli, staff attorney, Mental Hygiene Legal Services; and Darryl M. Vernon, Esq., Vernon & Ginsburg.

Through its representation of clients in landlord/tenant cases, Bet Tzedek has become aware of the legal and social problems of hoarders, who are at high risk for eviction, particularly during real estate boom times. Their socially and psychologically complex cases present formidable challenges and provide some of the most convincing arguments for the recent interdisciplinary approach used by Bet Tzedek to provide more effective and comprehensive services to its clients. Since 1999, social work students from Yeshiva University's Wurzweiler School of Social Work have worked collaboratively with law students on a range of issues with a variety of clients, helping them to secure appropriate services and benefits and assisting them during often difficult litigation.
Cardozo Bet Tzedek Legal Services

The Cardozo Bet Tzedek Legal Services Clinic at Cardozo Law School represents the elderly and individuals with disabilities who cannot afford private cousel. Second and third year law students work on cases that involve entitlement programs (particularly Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare), housing and consumer affairs.

Cardozo Bet Tzedek Legal Services
55 Fifth Avenue, 11th floor, New York, NY 10003
(212) 790-0240
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Postby TenantNet » Wed Dec 31, 2008 8:01 am

Originally posted by Anna

Compulsive hoarding is, in and of itself, a disability; It also frequently accompanies other emotional disabilities; it can be temporary, such as during the first few months or years following a trauma. The point of the Bet Tzedek conference was to educate people that such Ts should be given help from social services, not quickly evicted if they cannot clean out their apts (or make a significant dent in the clutter) within the extremely short time periods demanded by LLs and agreed to in stips by unrepresented Ts. There are examples of both the good and the bad from published HC cases: see http://tenant.net/Court/Hcourt/index.html?x=1466 , http://tenant.net/Court/Hcourt/archive/2002/nov02.html , apr01, nov00, may00, dec99, jun99, may99, feb98
Another resource:
Clutter and Hoarding

In 2003, an interdisciplinary New York City Hoarding Task Force was convened to address the complex behavioral disorder of hoarding in older adults and to develop practical tools and resources for community service providers.

As our population ages, hoarding has been increasingly recognized as a complex mental health problem that threatens the health, safety, and dignity of older adults. Although compulsive hoarding usually starts in young adulthood, it becomes particularly problematic later in life due to increased fall and fire risk. Moreover, the majority of older adults have multiple chronic health conditions, but necessary home care services may be denied until hoarding is resolved. Medicines can be buried under mounds of paper or clutter, and asthmatic conditions are exacerbated by dust and mold. Further, if the spouse dies who has been responsible for maintaining the home or if a person with advanced dementia loses the ability to organize or make rational judgments, then hoarding can spiral out of control.

A recent poll of ten Manhattan community service agencies that serve older adults revealed that approximately 10% of their clients are afflicted with hoarding behavior. Social workers reported of clients who lived in environments with

* Beds and bathtubs so filled with belongings there was no room for sleeping or bathing
* Kitchens that were unsafe and unusable due to cluttered stoves, sinks, and tabletops
* Large amounts of combustible materials blocking walking paths, radiators and fire exits
* No working toilets, sinks, heating and cooling appliances - afraid of eviction, they failed to get needed repairs
* Mounds of trash, rotten food, human and animal waste
* Insect and rodent infestation
* Many unkempt pets in need of care

These life-safety, quality-of-life and health issues not only affect the occupants but their neighbors as well. What makes hoarding so challenging is that people who hoard are usually oblivious to the problem and resist intervention. Factors such as extreme emotional attachment to possessions (including what appears to outsiders as useless junk), fear of loss, and the inability to discriminate (trash mixed with valuables) makes discarding items almost impossible.

Without a proper understanding of the psychosocial issues and reasons for hoarding, forced clean-outs, which can be costly, are often unsuccessful: dwellings revert back to an uninhabitable level within a relatively short period of time. Additionally, older adults may experience catastrophic emotional responses during forced cleanouts requiring emergency psychiatric care.

Understanding the reasons people hoard can help promote more therapeutic interventions, including on-going support and maintenance. It is our goal that the information contained in this section will help community agencies have a better understanding of, and more compassionate treatment for, older adults with hoarding behavior.
http://www.cornellaging.org/gem/hoarding_index.html

The webpage has many helpful links on it.
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Postby TenantNet » Wed Dec 31, 2008 8:05 am

Originally posted by Consigliere

Here's an interesting story, Wondering Whether a Park Should Keep Its Name, by Christopher Gray, from the June 23rd Real Estate section of The New York Times:

What did the Collyer brothers ever do for Harlem? That's the question asked by the Harlem Fifth Avenue Block Association, which seeks to rename the tiny park at the northwest corner of 128th and Fifth Avenue. The group would like to see plaques go up with the legend Reading Tree Park, but, for the near term at least, the park will continue to memorialize Homer and Langley Collyer, two of New York's most reclusive hermits.

Harlem began as a small village in the 1840's but by 1879 -- when the developer George J. Hamilton built his row of five row houses at the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 128th Street -- it was almost fully built up. Hamilton's architect was George B. Pelham, who had been born in England but came to New York in 1871. Pelham's houses, built for $12,000 each, were typical neo-Grec-style buildings of the period, with the customary high stoop. Hamilton occupied the corner house, 2078 Fifth Avenue.

In 1909, the Hamilton family sold the house to Susie G. Collyer. The 1912 city directory lists her in the house with her husband, Herman L. Collyer, and their sons, Homer, born in 1881, a lawyer, and Langley, born in 1883, a musician.

In 1923, Dr. Collyer died, followed by his wife in 1929. Later press accounts indicate that the gas and electricity were cut off around that time, apparently with the sons' consent.

In 1938, Helen Worden, a reporter for The New York World-Telegram, interviewed Langley Collyer, who told her: "We've no telephone, and we've stopped opening our mail. You can't imagine how free we feel." Worden, who subsequently wrote about the Collyer brothers (using the name Helen Worden Erskine) in her 1954 book "Out of This World," became interested in the Collyers because they had become known as hermits.

Langley would not let her into the house but told her that, yes, there was a canoe in the basement -- his father used to paddle down to the hospital where he worked every morning and back in the evening, he said. Langley also explained his shabby dress: "I have to dress this way. They would rob me if I didn't." Her book also says that he said he had stopped playing after a concert at Carnegie Hall: "Paderewski followed me. He got better notices than I. What was the use of going on?" She said Langley had a "low, cultivated voice."

In the 1920's, Homer had a regular job in a title research office, but walked eight miles to and from the office every day. But by the time Worden became interested in the Collyers, he was blind and almost paralyzed, cared for exclusively by Langley.

Mounds of debris were visible through the windows, and the brothers were disturbed in 1939 when Con Edison workers forced their way in to remove two old gas meters, an event that attracted a crowd of 1,000, according to an article in The New York Times. Statements from Langley in this period indicate he was very afraid of burglars.

IN 1942, the police, trying to carry out an eviction order, removed the house's front door. The brothers had stopped making payments on a $6,700 mortgage, though they had plenty of money to do so. Some accommodation was made, and they remained. Then the Internal Revenue Service seized another house they owned -- at 2077 Fifth Avenue, across the street -- for failure to pay taxes. On March 21, 1947, the police got an anonymous call saying that Homer Collyer was dead. The interior of 2078 Fifth Avenue was stuffed so high with papers and furniture that the police had to enter the house on the second floor by a ladder. They lowered Homer's body out the window in a sack. It appeared that he had died of hunger.

Langley Collyer had last been seen a few days before on the stoop of the building, but there was no sign of him now. Meanwhile, searchers began cleaning out the house. In the next few days they found the jawbone of a horse, a flier protesting the vote for women, unfinished knitting left by Mrs. Collyer, part of an auto chassis, pianos, furniture, papers and thousands of books, all while searching for Langley Collyer. By March 24, about 2,000 people had gathered at the corner of 128th and Fifth Avenue to watch.

There were 53 people at Homer Collyer's burial on April 1 at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn -- but no sign of Langley. Then, on April 8, it turned out that Langley had died in the building. Police found his body, wedged to the floor by one of the many booby traps he had created. Bringing food to Homer by a tunnel through stacks of books and newspapers, he had triggered the fall of hundreds of pounds of debris that trapped and, apparently, suffocated him. The brothers died within a few feet of each other.

Worden recorded what Langley had been wearing: a tweed jacket over blue-gray dungarees, over brown pants, over khaki pants and blue big overalls, with no underwear, but an onion sack worn like an ascot, and a gunnysack pinned to his shoulders.

In July, the house was demolished, after the last of 15 tons of material had been removed. In 1965, the 0.34-acre site became one of the city's first vest pocket parks, a project financed by the philanthropist Jacob M. Kaplan.

In the 1990's, Henry Stern, then the parks commissioner, named it Collyer Brothers Park. Surrounded by a tall iron fence and with rich turf and stately trees, it is not open regularly. But Celia Moultrie, president of the Harlem Fifth Avenue Block Association, says the group has had Christmas tree lightings in the park in the last two years.

Mrs. Moultrie has been working to open the park in the daytime in late June and July to encourage reading. Not only will people be encouraged to come in to read, but she is working on collecting books to give to neighborhood schools and programs for younger students, and is encouraging those willing to donate quantities of new books to call her at (212) 369-2080.

This spring, she made a proposal to Community Board 10 to eliminate the Collyer name, in favor of the Reading Tree Garden. "They did nothing positive in the area, they're not a positive image," Mrs. Moultrie said of the Collyers. The Parks subcommittee passed the motion, but it failed at the full board, by one vote. "We'll continue to push the reading, but I was very disappointed," Mrs. Moultrie said.

Adrian Benepe, the parks commissioner, says that his agency is flexible on the name of the park but adds: "Sometimes history is written by accident: Fort Tryon Park is named for a British governor, so there are some historic names that are not necessarily celebrated. Not all history is pretty -- and many New York children were admonished by their parents to clean their room `or else you'll end up like the Collyer brothers.' "

The Harlem historian Michael Adams thinks the Collyer name is significant enough to remain. He grew up in Ohio, and he recalls his grandmother admonishing him, "Get in there and clean your room -- it looks just like the Collyer brothers."

PHOTO CAPTION:

The Collyer brothers died in the corner house, at 128th and Fifth, in 1947. The interior was stuffed with papers and furniture and the police had to enter by ladder. Later, they emptied debris. The site is now a park.

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Postby TenantNet » Wed Jan 28, 2009 7:26 am

January 27, 2009
Queens Man Dies in House Amid Disarray and Flames
By TRYMAINE LEE and KAREN ZRAICK
New York Times


An elderly man died in a house fire in Queens on Monday night as firefighters battled flames and what they called cluttered, Collyers’ Mansion conditions.

The man, identified by neighbors as Henry Ward, was found dead in a back bedroom of his two-story wood house at 111-32 143rd Street near 111th Avenue, fire officials said.

The Fire Department was called about 8 p.m., fire officials said. The house was consumed by fire from the front to the back on both floors, fire officials said.

Deputy Chief Paul Ferro said the fire was difficult to fight because of the conditions inside the house and the instability of the house’s frame. Mr. Ferro said that once firefighters got inside, they were confronted by major clutter and debris strewn throughout the home.

Soon after firefighters got the blaze under control, they found Mr. Ward’s body.

Neighbors described Mr. Ward as quiet and reclusive.

”You seldom see him,” said Rod Scott, a neighbor. “He comes out every once in a while. I feel bad for him to go out like this.”

Mr. Scott said that Mr. Ward was known around the neighborhood for the eccentric manner in which he decorated the outside of his home.

The front of the white house was covered by dozens of signs paying homage to African-American culture in America. They praise African-American scientists, doctors, inventors and many of their widely used inventions.

One sign, made of white oak tag and painted with red letters, hung over the entryway into Mr. Ward’s yard.

It noted the shortage of places where African-American history was celebrated outdoors, and introduced some of the black inventors as being “produced from brilliant genius” minds of the children of slaves.

Another neighbor, Edith Koffi, said she believed Mr. Ward was a veteran. She said she often ran into him at the local library.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/nyreg ... f=nyregion
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