In this study, the authors examined various predictors of past and current homeless episodes among a group of individuals currently residing in several shelters in St. Louis, Mo. The authors included current psychiatric functioning and prior psychiatric history in the data analysis hypothesizing that these factors would correlate positively with chronic homelessness. Other characteristics included were age, race, gender, and prior service in the military, as well as socio-economic factors such as education and employment. Findings indicated that lack of education did predict length of time spent homeless, however, income did not predict homelessness or length of time spent homeless. Prior psychiatric hospitalization did not predict the length of homeless episodes, nor did level of current psychiatric functioning. In fact, psychiatric pathology could explain only a small percentage of the variance of chronic homelessness (authors). [abstract]