Pass the Mic with Mark Council

Mark Council is a native of Baltimore. He serves on the Board of Directors of Health Care for the Homeless and is chair of the Consumer Relations Committee.

In 2012, while I was homeless, I went to the Weinberg Housing and Resource Center. There was a guy from Health Care for the Homeless talking about groups we could get into. From that point on, I learned about the programs, the resources, everything I possibly could use. I wasn't really ready, but I decided to join in as much as I could to try to help out.

When I became homeless, I never wanted help for myself. I wanted to help others. That's my passion. When somebody says, ‘thank you,’ that's the best reward.

All the groups I’m part of have helped make progress. For instance, at Health Care for the Homeless, the budget for the home starter kit had been $160 for a long period of time. We raised it to $225.

With the city’s Lived Experience Advisory Committee (LEAC), we saw there was a men’s shelter that didn’t have case managers or food. It was just come in, go to sleep and get out the next morning. We spoke up and got that changed.

At Housing Our Neighbors (HON), when COVID happened, we were the first group that came out with masks for people. This February, we had a bill that didn’t pass about the conditions of shelters and training of staff. I know from experience that what goes on in shelters is not right. Right now, it's 100 degrees outside. Why don’t people want to go into the shelter? People feel safer outside. At shelters there is a lot of ‘don’t do this’ or ‘don’t bring that,’ like your pet. People don’t want to be separated from their partners or family. People are being abused. So we still trying to push this issue.

Changes happen because of the simple fact that people like me care. That's what it takes to make things move.

My friend Anthony Williams passed away in 2023. He wore hundreds of hats, and he was trying to get me into all those hats. I'd say, ‘Anthony, you’re a superman.’ Anthony was a very, very well-known advocate in the city. When he passed, it was like a black cloud over the city.

My friend Eileen Cotton passed in May. We were very close. We were in the LEAC and HON together. After she passed away, it was like a race against time. I didn't want Eileen to be thrown away by the city or state like she didn't mean anything because she really meant a lot to me. We managed to get in touch with her niece. I just wanted her family to send her on the way they wanted to.

We’ve got to put the word out there that housing saves lives. It's security. It's a peace of mind. It's love. It’s health. People are dying because they are homeless. Housing is health care. That's the bottom line, and that's what I'll continue to say. Housing is health care.

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“Pass the Mic” is a storytelling space featuring the voices and stories of people with a lived experience of homelessness.