City file 31 / 36 · For San Francisco organizations
When a San Francisco caseworker sends someone to another organization, the referral is logged as sent. Whether the person arrived is often never recorded. Operation Iron Gate, from Pathfinders for Hope, is built to record that part. San Francisco organizations can watch its first pilot in the open.
Sent is not served
Picture one person in the City and County of San Francisco. An outreach worker connects them to a shelter, a clinic or a benefits office somewhere in San Francisco. This is what each record shows a week later.
Logged
Consent recorded first
Logged as sent
Sent, and still open
Not recorded
Confirmed by the receiving organization
Not recorded
Owned by a named role
“Unknown”
Only into a known outcome
Lane B is the pilot’s design, not a San Francisco field result.
The plain terms
The rulebook
In practiceA missing ID does not end a San Francisco handoff. The referral stays open while the ID problem is worked, with no promise of same-day eligibility, housing or a bed.
In practiceA “no” from a San Francisco provider needs a written reason before it is recorded as a denial.
In practice“Unknown” cannot be picked as the final outcome of a San Francisco case. Someone owns the next step until it is known.
In practice“Sent” and “arrived” are two statuses. The sender records one; the San Francisco organization that receives the person records the other.
The failure points
San Francisco changed how it counted in 2026, and advocates and officials now disagree about what the trend means. A point-in-time count is a snapshot once every two years. A confirmed handoff is a record made every day, and it does not change with the counting method.
Your numbers
The way in
Three ways in for San Francisco organizations. None of them asks you to change the system you use today.
Housing held at 90 days is the lead measure. Results go on The Glass with no names, good or bad, so San Francisco can judge them.
Tell us your San Francisco role: sending, receiving, providing or overseeing. Nothing is signed in a first conversation.
The counter above shows how many of your San Francisco handoffs end in a question mark. It stays on your device until you share it.
The questions
No. It has not launched anywhere. The first pilot is being prepared in Vallejo, and no San Francisco launch has been announced.
The 2026 count for the City and County of San Francisco recorded 7,973 people counted in one morning. Unsheltered homelessness fell to 3,400, the lowest since 2011, and family homelessness rose 15 percent. The count moved to a morning survey this year, so comparisons with past years are contested. The count found 465 families experiencing homelessness.
The city also reported a 54 percent drop in youth homelessness. By April 2026 the mayor had opened 863 new shelter beds, for about 7,500 citywide, a net gain of 403 after closures. The Sheriff's RESET sobering center opened in May 2026, and by August 10 it had admitted 1,231 people, 64 percent of whom declined a referral to services.
Cohort 01 is recruiting in Vallejo. A San Francisco organization can request a briefing now. Nothing is signed in a first San Francisco briefing.
No. Operation Iron Gate is not a replacement for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing or any provider's system. It is built to confirm that a referral between organizations reached the person, after the intake and assessment the city already runs.
For food, the SF-Marin Food Bank lists distribution sites across the area. Operation Iron Gate is not open for public intake yet. GATEHOUSE, our community platform, where Pathfinders for Hope does your intake, barrier review and the calls to agencies, is open now: register on GATEHOUSE to ask questions and follow the build. Joining GATEHOUSE does not put you in the North Bay Pilot, which runs only in Vallejo and Solano County.
The evidence
Where the San Francisco figures come from.
Operation Iron Gate has not been tested in the field, and no results are claimed for San Francisco or anywhere else. North Bay Pilot numbers will be published good or bad.
Nearby cities. Read the pages for Oakland, Hayward, Fremont and Santa Rosa.
The inside track
Operation Iron Gate starts in Vallejo. Its community platform, GATEHOUSE, is open today. San Francisco agencies, nonprofits and neighbors can join to watch the North Bay Pilot get built, ask our team anything, and help decide what the full system becomes.
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