Woman Wants 'Gravely Disabled' Brother Off Streets

SOLANO COUNTY (CSB13) — It's a story of desperation and hope as a woman fights to get her disabled brother off the streets.

Decades after a near-fatal accident left him with a severe brain injury, he's homeless.

Linda Privatte's brother went missing after allegedly trying to set fire to a shelter in Vacaville on Monday night. She says it's just one more reason for the count to take him off the streets and place him in a locked facility.

"He cannot provide housing, food, clothing shelter. he has had no medical attention," she said.

She and her family have tried helping Mark off the streets for years with no success.

Mark, who is now 55, was in a horrific motorcycle accident in the 1980s that left him completely blind and severely brain damaged.

"I'm terrified, that's why I'm doing this," she said. "I don't want to leave this earth and leave my brother out on the streets."

She says her brother became homeless 11 years ago after his frequent psychotic episodes scared his family who could no longer care for him. For months she's been requesting for Solano County to take conservatorship over him, fearing he'll be left to die in the streets.

Solano County health and social services says it can't force anyone off the streets or into treatment under current law.

Assembly Bill 1971 would also require counties to house the homeless who are gravely disabled.

It's a far-fetched idea for Solano County officials who say they're already having a tough time dealing with the general homeless population.