You are a social worker at a community center. You have spent eight months working with local residents to organize a neighborhood association. People are beginning to trust you and each other enough to be willing to work together on some of the hard issues that are challenging residents, and a project to clean up the area is underway. You begin to receive complaints about a man who has a lot of junk in his yard. Residents tell you that they are concerned about health hazards and the possibility that property values in the area will fall.
Your first step is to visit the man. His house is very run down and filled with stuff. You find out that the man is a widower, with no family in the area. He collects and repairs old items and then tries to sell them. He has not sold much lately, so a lot of the items are in his yard. When you tell him about the complaints, he replies that he has been in the area for more than 60 years, has never bothered anyone, and needs all this stuff to make a living.
List all the possible responses you can think of to address this dilemma. What social work values are in conflict in the situation, and how can the code of ethics guide your decision?
How would you address this situation balancing the needs of the individual and community?