A program of Pathfinders for Hope
Building better homeless services in Vallejo.
Better homeless services begin with a referral handoff that reaches someone. Pathfinders for Hope is building the Vallejo Pilot for Operation Iron Gate, a confirmed-handoff referral system. We are recruiting nonprofits, agencies, churches, and resource partners to test workflows, strengthen the resource network, and improve referral accountability.
See the proposed closed-loop referral workflow for hospital and community partners.
Need help today? Call 211 for current local referral information.
Two ways in
I need help
You do not need an ID, an address, or a phone of your own. Public intake for Operation Iron Gate is not open. For current local referral information, call 211. Browse homeless resources in Vallejo, CA.
For organizations responsible for the next handoff
We are recruiting nonprofits, NGOs, agencies, recovery providers, county social services, domestic violence agencies, city and county government, and resource partners responsible for homeless services or 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.
What happens when you enroll
What you can expect.
Nothing is running yet. This is the path your case will follow once the pilot begins in Vallejo — five steps, and no step that quietly disappears.
- Step 01
Intake
A conversation, not a form. What you need, written down in plain words.
- Step 02
Record, with consent
No file without your permission. You can say no to any part of it and still get help.
- Step 03
Referral
A connection to the organization that can help with that specific need.
- Step 04
Handoff confirmed
Confirmation that you arrived. Sent is not the same as served.
- Step 05
Outcome recorded
What happened, written down. Nothing closes into “unknown.”
- Lock 01 / 03
Nothing closes into “unknown”
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
A handoff closes on confirmation
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
Consent comes before the record
Record before consent
A record cannot exist without a consent step recorded first. Saying no to part of it does not close the door.
Confirmed-handoff standard·every referral is built to be followed from the front door to an outcome
- 01Front doorThe moment the record opens.
- 02IntakeWhat the person needs, in plain words.
- 03BarriersWhat is standing in the way, named.
- 04DecisionWhat was decided, and the legal basis for it.
- 05HousingWhere the person is sent, and to whom.
- 06Follow-upWhether they arrived. Confirmed by the receiving organization.
Illustrative — how Operation Iron Gate routes and tracks every case · no one falls off the map
What better homeless services demand
Current systems report what happened. Operation Iron Gate makes sure it happens.
01 / The Crisis
Fiscal 2018 – 2023 · State of California
The most expensive homelessness response in America.
The least accountable.
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.
What the state cannot say is what any of it bought. 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.
34% of columns are hollow. One in three people left California homelessness programs for an unknown destination.
The public record
Every figure links to its source
spent on homelessness in five years (2018 to 2023), across 30+ programs and 9 agencies
homeless Californians (2024), 28% of everyone homeless in the United States
consistent statewide tracking of whether any of it actually worked
California’s own state auditor
called it “a data desert.”State Auditor Report 2023-102.1 · April 2024
The data desert
The money was spent. The outcomes were never tracked.
In 2024, California’s State Auditor delivered a verdict the state couldn’t answer.
$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.
What current systems report
What a tracked record looks like
Homelessness-program spending the state tracked, then stopped
Tracking stopped after 2021
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
Homelessness solutions stop at the referral. Operation Iron Gate closes the gap they left open.
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 sits alongside the intake and assessment system a community already runs — it is not one, and does not replace one.
- 01Documented access pathway
- 02Documented decision basis
- 03No unknown closure status
- 04Sent is not the same as served
IGAC: Iron Gate Access Credential
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.
Documented access pathway
Yes-By-Default
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.
Documented decision basis
No Dead Ends
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.
No unknown closure status
Tracked Handoff
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.
Sent is not the same as served
03 / The Glass
The numbers don’t hide. They’re built to be seen.
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
The Glass Public Performance View
Specimen view · illustrative figures · the Vallejo pilot has not launched and no pilot data exists yet · this shows the shape of the record, not results
Cases in motion
—tracked across every stage
Referrals → outcomes
—closed the loop, not just sent
Housing held · 90 days
—the help that lasted
Unknown destinations
0because every exit is recorded
01 / Definition
What The Glass is
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.
02 / Incentive
Why a provider would publish
Because the alternative is being judged on claims. A provider that shows its own numbers, including the bad ones, is the only kind that can be trusted with the good ones.
03 / Limits
What is never visible
No names. No case identifiers. No personally identifying information, ever. Aggregate counts and rates only, at a grain that cannot re-identify a person.
This isn’t another program. It’s the system that makes sure the handoff lands.
The people doing this work are not the problem. Homelessness solutions have asked them to deliver outcomes on a record that could not follow anyone past the front door. Operation Iron Gate gives them that record.
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 claimsLeft documented failure modesRight design standard, in developmentVallejo pilot has not launched
The film
Why now. What’s different.
Watch the filmPlay this short introduction to Operation Iron Gate, or use the YouTube link if you prefer.
Plays right here. Nothing loads until you press play. Watch on YouTube
04 / The Pilot
Measuring the Iron Gate Vallejo Pilot.
This deployment has not run yet. There are no results to report, and none are claimed here. What follows is the measurement standard most homelessness solutions never publish, committed to in public before the numbers exist.
What will be
measured
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
The success
standard
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
What will be
published
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
What happens
if it fails
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
First pilot launching in North Bay, California
Projected launch
Late fall
The data desert has a cost,measured in dollars, and in lives.The fix exists now.
The referral standard
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. It does not replace a partner's services, decisions, or responsibilities. It is a proposed way to make an authorized handoff visible.
What is a closed-loop referral? · Closed loop referral for hospital handoffs · Operation Iron Gate and your HMIS · Who Operation Iron Gate is for · What is a no-dead-end referral system?
For organizations
Bring your role to the Vallejo Pilot.
The pilot is recruiting organizations that refer people, receive referrals, provide resources, or carry public responsibility for homeless services in Vallejo.
Who should take part?
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.
What can an organization do in the Vallejo Pilot?
Explore participation, bring a real referral workflow to the conversation, prepare a list of resources, and help measure how homeless services handoffs perform.
Does participation replace our current services or process?
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.
How will privacy and consent be handled?
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.
What happens after an organization sends an inquiry?
Pathfinders for Hope will respond, learn the organization’s role, and discuss whether the Vallejo Pilot is a fit for its homeless services role.
—Cases tracked
—Chain of custody
0Unknown destinations
Illustrative
05 / Partner briefing
Help build the Vallejo Pilot.
Choose the role your organization can play, then request a briefing. Pathfinders for Hope will answer your question and discuss whether the Vallejo Pilot is a fit for your homeless services role.
Tell us whether you send referrals, receive them, provide a resource, or represent public leadership.
Five sources
The evidence
Every figure on this page is cited to a public record. Counts update annually. Confirm before each publish.
Every case seen.
Every dollar proven.
No one gets lost.