Open now We’re open. GATEHOUSE, our community platform, where Pathfinders for Hope does your intake, barrier review and the calls to agencies, is live. The North Bay Pilot is not open yet (projected January 2027).
Pathfinders for Hope is building the North Bay Pilot for Operation Iron Gate, a confirmed-handoff referral system. GATEHOUSE, our community platform, is live now, and intake is open by phone.
Register on GATEHOUSESee the proposed closed-loop referral workflow for hospital and community partners. What is Operation Iron Gate?
Intake by phone · Open now
We do the heavy lifting: your intake, a barrier review, the calls to the agencies, and the follow-up.
Call us at (707) 205-7588 and we’ll help you reach the resources you need. We are not your ordinary nonprofit; we do the heavy lifting for you:
How we walk with you
We can’t promise a resource will be open or that an agency will accept you; that depends on the agency. If you were turned away, handed another number to call, or never called back, tap Turned Away and fill out the form. We’ll call you to confirm what happened, record it, and keep working your case. If anyone you know was turned away, please report it too.
In danger right now? Call 911.
Individuals and families
You do not need an ID, an address, or a phone of your own. Pathfinders for Hope intake is open now by phone: call (707) 205-7588. GATEHOUSE, our community platform, is open now: register on GATEHOUSE to find resources and ask questions. For current local referral information, call 211. Looking for a homeless shelter in Vallejo? Start with our Vallejo shelter and resources guide.
Find Vallejo resources Preview only
Partners across the Vallejo response system
We are recruiting homeless services organizations, nonprofits, NGOs, agencies, recovery providers, county social services, domestic violence agencies, city and county government, and resource partners serving people experiencing homelessness. If you send referrals, receive referrals, provide a resource, or oversee public outcomes, the first conversation is exploratory. Nothing is signed in it.
Two ways in
Pathfinders for Hope outreach in Vallejo Intake by phone · Open now
We do the heavy lifting: your intake, a barrier review, the calls to the agencies, and the follow-up.
Call us at (707) 205-7588 and we’ll help you reach the resources you need. We are not your ordinary nonprofit; we do the heavy lifting for you:
How we walk with you
We can’t promise a resource will be open or that an agency will accept you; that depends on the agency. If you were turned away, handed another number to call, or never called back, tap Turned Away and fill out the form. We’ll call you to confirm what happened, record it, and keep working your case. If anyone you know was turned away, please report it too.
Turned away? Report it In danger right now? Call 911.
Resource Finder
Every food pantry, produce stop, hot meal, shelter and help line in Vallejo and Solano County on one list, with what is open today and the nearest place.
Food banks open today: Vallejo food bank Fairfield food bank Solano County food bank
What happens when you enroll
The pilot is not running yet, but GATEHOUSE, our community platform, is open now. This is the path your case will follow once the pilot begins in Vallejo: five steps, and no step that quietly disappears.
Step 01
A conversation, not a form. What you need, written down in plain words.
Step 02
No file without your permission. You can say no to any part of it and still get help.
Step 03
A connection to the organization that can help with that specific need.
Step 04
Confirmation that you arrived. Sent is not the same as served.
Step 05
What happened, written down. Nothing closes into “unknown.”
Lock 01 / 03
Exit state: unknown
There is no exit state in the record that can hold an unknown destination. A case cannot be closed into nothing.
Lock 02 / 03
Sent = served
A referral is not finished when it is sent. It is finished when the receiving organization confirms the person arrived.
Lock 03 / 03
Record before consent
A record cannot exist without a consent step recorded first. Saying no to part of it does not close the door.
Every referral is built to be followed from the front door to an outcome.
No handoff should end with an unknown destination
Illustrative: how Operation Iron Gate routes and tracks every case · no one falls off the map
Current systems report what happened.
California spent more on homelessness between 2018 and 2023 than any state has ever spent on the problem. The money moved through more than 30 programs across nine agencies.
The 2024 audit found that inconsistent reporting limited the state’s ability to evaluate several homelessness programs. The agency responsible for tracking outcomes stopped in 2021, and nearly one in three people left programs for a destination nobody recorded. This was built from lived experience, not from a policy paper.
spent on homelessness in five years (2018 to 2023), across 30+ programs and 9 agencies
CA State Auditor 2023-102.1homeless Californians (2024), 28% of everyone homeless in the United States
HUD 2024 AHARunsheltered, the highest rate of any state in the nation
HUD 2024 AHAR / CalMattersconsistent statewide tracking of whether any of it actually worked
CA State Auditor 2023-102.1California’s own state auditor called it “a data desert.”
State Auditor Report 2023-102.1 · April 2024
$24 billion spent over five years, and no reliable way to say what worked. The agency responsible for tracking it stopped in 2021.
Of five major programs reviewed, only two could be shown to be cost-effective. Three of them, holding $9.4 billion, couldn’t be evaluated at all, because the data didn’t exist.
Nearly one in three people left programs for “unknown” destinations. No one could say where they went.
You cannot fix what you refuse to measure.
Bars: Cal ICH Statewide Homelessness Assessment (FY2018/19 to FY2020/21). $24B: Legislative Analyst’s Office. $9.4B unassessed and 2021 cutoff: CA State Auditor, Report 2023-102.1 (April 2024).
02 / The System
Solutions to homelessness break at the handoff. Operation Iron Gate is referral tracking and accountability for homeless services, engineered so no one gets lost, and so every case, every handoff, and every outcome can be seen and proven. It strengthens continuity after the intake and assessment system a community already runs, with documented handoffs and follow-up.
Identification barriers should not end an authorized handoff. The Iron Gate Access Credential is a proposed pilot design, not a promise of same-day eligibility, immediate housing, or resource availability. Any use would require authorized review and documented rules.
The proposed workflow requires a documented decision basis before an authorized denial is recorded. It is a design requirement for the pilot, subject to each participating organization’s lawful authority, review process, and responsibilities.
The design does not treat “unknown” as a completed outcome. A handoff remains open until a responsible role records a known next action or an authorized closure.
The pilot design does not treat sending as closure. A receiving organization’s confirmation of receipt is a separate status. The workflow is being designed to make that distinction visible without promising that a person reaches a service.
03 / The Glass
Most homelessness solutions report their results privately, or not at all. Operation Iron Gate carries a public transparency layer, so results can be watched in the open, not buried in a report no one updates.
The public transparency layer
Specimen Aggregate only. No names, no case IDs
Specimen view · illustrative figures · the North Bay Pilot has not launched and no pilot data exists yet · this shows the shape of the record, not results
Design standard Every case accounted for Updates in near real time Downloadable, citable
A public performance view of the pilot. The same numbers the operator sees, published where a county, a funder or a resident can read them without asking permission.
Because published evidence is stronger than claims. A provider that shows its own numbers, including the bad ones, is the only kind that can be trusted with the good ones.
No names. No case identifiers. No personally identifying information, ever. Aggregate counts and rates only, at a grain that cannot re-identify a person.
The people doing this work are not the problem. Operation Iron Gate gives them the record that follows a person past the front door.
| The current system | Operation Iron Gate |
|---|---|
| Billions spent, outcomes never consistently tracked | Every dollar and outcome built to be seen and proven |
| Tracking stopped in 2021, with no plan to resume | Real-time tracking, always on, by design |
| One in three people exited to “unknown” | Each referral remains open until a documented next action or authorized closure |
| Referrals counted as sent, never followed | Referrals tracked to outcomes, providers held to them |
| Results claimed, rarely shown | Results public, in the open, downloadable |
05 claims · Left documented failure modes · Right design standard, in development · North Bay Pilot has not launched
The film Operation Iron Gate / Promotional film
Operation Iron Gate film. Select play to watch here, or open the video on YouTube. Plays right here. Nothing loads until you press play.
The data desert has a cost, measured in dollars, and in lives. The fix exists now.
04 / The Pilot
This deployment has not run yet. There are no results to report, and none are claimed here. What follows is the measurement standard Pathfinders for Hope is committing to publish before the pilot begins and before the numbers exist.
First pilot launching in North Bay, California
Projected launch
January 2027
Every case from front door to outcome. Every referral to confirmed receipt. Every exit to a known destination. Nothing closes into “unknown.”
Clause 01 of 04 · committed before the numbers exist
Housing retention at 90 days is the primary measure. Checkpoints at 30, 60, 90 and 180 days. One number leads, and it is the one that is hardest to hit.
Clause 02 of 04 · committed before the numbers exist
Results go on The Glass whether they are good or bad. Aggregate only. No names, no case identifiers, no personally identifying information.
Clause 03 of 04 · committed before the numbers exist
The failure gets published too, on the same dashboard, on the same schedule. A system that publishes its own numbers has to be willing to publish bad ones. If the 90-day retention standard is missed, it will be posted, not explained away.
Clause 04 of 04 · committed before the numbers exist
A referral is not finished when it is sent. It is finished when the receiving organization confirms the person arrived.
Operation Iron Gate is being prepared for the organizations that send referrals, receive referrals, provide recovery or safety resources, and oversee public outcomes. Each partner retains its services, decision-making authority, and responsibilities. It is a proposed way to make an authorized handoff visible.
For organizations
The pilot is recruiting organizations that refer people, receive referrals, provide resources, or carry public responsibility for homeless services in Vallejo.
Nonprofits, NGOs, agencies, recovery providers, county social services, domestic violence agencies, city and county government, and organizations serving people experiencing homelessness. They can help strengthen homeless services in Vallejo.
Explore participation, bring a real referral workflow to the conversation, prepare a list of resources, and help measure how homeless services handoffs perform.
No. Each partner keeps its services, decisions, and responsibilities. The pilot is being prepared to strengthen the confirmed handoff after an authorized referral across homeless services partners.
Information should move only with appropriate permission. The pilot is being designed around consent, responsible partner practice, and the information each partner is authorized to receive across the homeless services response.
Pathfinders for Hope will respond, learn the organization’s role, and discuss whether the North Bay Pilot is a fit for its homeless services role.
05 / Partner briefing
Choose the role your organization can play, then request a briefing. Pathfinders for Hope will answer your question and discuss whether the North Bay Pilot is a fit for your homeless services role.
List your organization as a resource
Tell us whether you send referrals, receive them, provide a resource, or represent public leadership.
Illustrative
Five sources
Every figure on this page is cited to a public record. Counts update annually.
Every case seen. Every dollar proven. No one gets lost.
The movement starts in Vallejo
Be the first to know what’s happening with Pathfinders for Hope. Meet your neighbors, talk with each other, ask questions in our Q&A, and tell us what you think of our progress, the good and the bad. Together, we get stronger.
Founding member
Outside the North Bay? You can join to watch and give input. Joining is not joining the North Bay Pilot. GATEHOUSE is a small version of Operation Iron Gate.
Takes a minute. Name, email, who you are, password.
Not ready for an account? Add your voice to the 500 going to City Hall
