The history of the Community Health model, begun in the '60s, is one of failure. It was falsely premised on the idea that institutionalization was, by definition, inhumane. The money saved from deinstitutionalization was supposed to be spent by the new community health clinics on those deinstitutionalized, but the therapists quickly realized that the released were not amenable to talk therapy, and that they had no way of ensuring medications were taken as prescribed.  It was easier to focus on the post-partum depression single mom down the street and other "normal" people than the physiologically mentally ill schizophrenic who, when not on meds, was not competent to manage their own affairs and who self-medicated with drugs and alcohol. 

Clayton Cramer's biographical look at the history of mental health care in this country, "My Brother Ron," provides a decent history for the layman to understand the well-meaning missteps of the post-war era when it comes to mental health care.