This is Callejas' fourth stint without a place of her own, she said, and she's learned to take the struggles of being homeless in stride, thanks in part to medication she takes for anxiety and depression.
She knows she can get necessities, like toiletries, from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs — she said she served in the Air Force in Grand Forks, N.D. — and has identified a food bank near her new apartment.
"This tells me my medication is working because six months ago, I would have been dry heaving in the corner, thinking about all this," Callejas said. "I realize that it's doable. I'm not going to be eating steak, but it'll be OK."
A bright spot for Baltimore in the new Census Bureau data is an increase in the number of people who have medical insurance.
Between 2009 and 2011, the years before and after the passage of health care reform by Congress, the percentage of people with health insurance coverage went up from 84.8 percent to 86.5 percent.
Much of the change is due to an increase in the number of young adults who can stay enrolled in their parents' plans into their mid-20s because of the federal reform.
From 2009 to 2011, the share of young adults between 19 and 25 with health insurance in Maryland rose 6.7 percentage points, to 81.7 percent. Nationally, the coverage for young adults increased 3.6 percentage points, to 71.8 percent. Maryland was one of only nine states to exceed the national average.
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