People who live disorganized lives – i.e., people who suffer from compulsive hoarding – often slip into social isolation and sometimes even lose their homes because their landlords do not tolerate the progressive neglect of the living space. At the same time, these persons can hardly be reached by the existing social aid structures. Yet they urgently need help on various fronts, as the chaos in their lives is usually only a symptom of underlying problems.

With the AdeLe project (funded by the BMBF from 2017 to 2020), the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg) aimed to solve this problem: The goal of the work, led by Prof. Dr. Andreas Langer, was to develop an aid concept for people in disorganized living situations that would interlink existing aid services and thus prevent affected persons from simply being sent from one place to another.

During the trial phase, the aid concept was hugely successful and had more applicants than places in the programme. Therefore, it was clear to the AdeLe team that this work must be continued and firmly established as part of the city's social aid structures. But the large number of stakeholders and the notorious shortage of money in the social services sector made it almost impossible to bring everyone together and convince them of the financial benefits of the project.

In the end, however, the team's persistence paid off: they contacted the Ambulante Hilfe Hamburg e.V. (AHH), and the association was immediately interested in the concept. The AHH has its roots in helping the homeless, and one of its main goals is to prevent people from losing their homes.

Through the German TV lottery, the AHH was able to raise the necessary funding to turn the AdeLe concept into a practical project called “Dele project – Support for disorganized people, their relatives, and professionals”. Dele started in April 2021 and is offered throughout the entire city of Hamburg – closely accompanied by the HAW experts. Former AdeLe employee Johanna Wessels, for instance, is now the project manager of Dele, and Andreas Langer stands by in an advisory capacity.

Unlike the AdeLe research project, however, Dele no longer focuses on older people, but is open to everyone who is affected by compulsive hoarding. It serves as a bridge between the various social aid services and as a contact point for counselling people living in disorganized conditions, or their relatives. The project also offers participatory meeting spaces and, above all, close and individual support for those affected. Thus, acute crises and conflicts can be intercepted before they culminate in complete social isolation or an eviction by the landlord. Dele has adopted the well-tried AdeLe support concept, dividing it into three phases: from building trust and averting acute crises, through everyday support and in-depth assistance, to aftercare and stabilization of the living situation.

Funding by the German TV lottery is limited to two and a half years, but the declared goal of AHH and HAW is the permanent integration of the concept into the social aid structures of Hamburg. The financing possibilities are already being explored in close exchange with the city’s social authorities.

This might perhaps be helped by the fact that the project has already aroused interest outside Hamburg: Johanna Wessels reports that the Dele team was recently contacted by a social welfare office from another European metropolis, as they want to adopt the concept and are already sounding out the financing possibilities. Dele is now hoping for fruitful international cooperation – and that the concept of helping people to de-clutter their lives will soon spread much further than just around Hamburg.