Homeless mental patients (re)admitted to Dutch mental hospitals from 1990 through 1995 were compared to patients who were not homeless. Data from the Dutch Psychiatric Caseregister (piggz) were examined. Each year about 1%, that is about 150 persons, of all patients that are (re)admitted in Dutch mental hospitals are chronically homeless. Homeless mental patients differred significantly from other mental patients as to sex, marital status, juridical status, age, education, source of income, length of stay, living environment before admission, referring agency, native country, psychiatric diagnosis, quarter in the year of admission and the number of readmissions. It seems as if a readmission into a mental hospital for these homeless mental patients merely is an intermission in a prolonged state of homelessness.