Penny Wise

Deinstitutionalization from mental hospitals has been with us for over fifty years now in Australia and the United States of America. Growing expenses in keeping mental institutions open made ideas of community care attractive to the Governments footing the bills for the mental institutions. However, funding for appropriate levels of community support were never forthcoming. Costs have fallen instead on people with mental illness, on their families and carers, and on other institutions such as homeless shelters and jails. The costs have wound up being heavier than the savings.