Glenn Baker loves his one-bedroom apartment on the South Side of Chicago, and it shows: on his walls hang pictures of his favorite superheroes, and a note above his sink reminds visitors to do their dishes.
But Baker says his favorite thing about his apartment is simply the fact that it is his.
“I never have to worry about a place that I can lay down at night to stay warm,” Baker said. “I’ve only been to the emergency room a few times since I moved in here. I’m very happy about that.”
Since May 2016, Baker has lived in an apartment paid for largely by the University of Illinois Hospital — the rest is paid for by a federal housing grant. Before that, he was homeless and a frequent patient of Chicago emergency rooms. He told WBEZ in 2016 that he spent up to 20 nights a month in the ER, sometimes faking an illness to get a warm bed. Baker is one of 26 ER “super utilizers” that the University of Illinois began providing housing for in 2015 as part of a pilot project.
[For more on this story by Miles Bryan, go to https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbe...6f-b9fb-29b17f95e3e1]
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