The policy of the Dutch government is to transfer more than 4000 long-stay psychiatric hospital beds into places in sheltered housing institutions. This goal has not yet been reached. Schellings c.s. (1995) found that this goal can be reached if all the institutions involved will cooperate. The most important comment on this research, is that it is based on the prognosis by the care-givers. Care-givers mostly decide unilaterally upon referrals of patients. Care-givers can hardly predict in individual cases under which patients would benefit from the new services. A short review of Dutch literature makes it clear that many chronic patients sooner or later want to leave the mental hospital. It is concluded that the chances for successful de-institutionalisation will improve if the care given by sheltered housing institutions would better meet the needs of the patients involved and if the financing system were to change.