Homelessness among people with severe mental illness in Switzerland

socio-demographic and clinical characteristics among homeless people in Switzerland admitted to inpatient care, the use of and pathways to inpa-tient care by this group and, the extent to which psychiatric disorders contribute to the risk of homelessness. Methods: Based on data of a psychiatric case register we analysed 16247 people consecutively referred to psychiatric hospitals of a catchment area in Switzerland between 1998 and 2001. Results: 1.6 % of all admitted patients (N = 257) were homeless (mean age: 34.4 years; women: 30.0%). The homeless as compared to other psy-chiatric inpatients had higher rates of substance use disorders, equal rates of psychotic and per