Mentally ill dumped onto charities
By James Vassilopoulos
SYDNEY — Walk around any capital city, and you will see more homeless people today than five years ago. The homeless you see are more likely to be younger and to have a mental illness.
Homeless people with mental illness are being dumped onto charities. More and more are ending up in hostels and crisis accommodation, according to a report called Shifting the Deckchairs, prepared by Sydney City Mission and other major providers of services to homeless people in the inner city of Sydney.
Mental health services in the inner city are facing funding cuts that jeopardise services like case management and group homes.
The report states that unless action is taken to alleviate the situation, there is a real possibility that "draconian methods" will be used to clear people off the streets before the 2000 Olympics. Before the Atlanta and Barcelona Olympic games, the homeless were shipped to outlying areas.
"Seventy-five per cent of our work is spent with people suffering from mental illness. Two years ago I would have said 50%. We're the biggest psych ward in NSW", stated a worker at one of the large city hostels for homeless people.
At A Woman's Place, 40% of the homeless women had a diagnosed mental illness. At the Matthew Talbot Hostel for homeless men, 26% were diagnosed as having schizophrenia, compared to 16% in an earlier study.
There are only 600 crisis beds available for homeless people in the inner city of Sydney.
More mentally ill people are ending up at homeless shelters following the policy of de-institutionalisation. According to Shifting the Deckchairs, this is because "few resources had been re-directed" into the community following the closure of hospital wards.
Mentally ill people were not receiving the care required and there was not enough low-cost accommodation in the inner city.
For the Olympics, many boarding house owners will look to convert them to tourist accommodation.
The Howard government's recent cuts to public housing and residential aged care, according to the report, will make it even more difficult for homeless people with mental illness.
The Inner City Mental Health Service is to lose $100,000 from its budget. The Voluntary Agencies Crisis Service, set up to provide clinical support and case management, is being "withdrawn or down-graded".