Appalling and all too frequent. In my own hospital with 32-56 hour waits for a bed they tend to discharge you the soonest they feel you are stable. Note stable doesn't mean recovered, it simply means that the patient no longer requires intervention. They DO however here make up a discharge plan - which your girlfriend's hospital ought to have provided. These can be as simple as an agreement to call a crisis line for help, attend a psychiatric appointment, make check-ins, and yes group homes and/or shelters. It is terrible that this is the level of care we have come to think of as acceptable.