A handoff closes on confirmation
A referral is not finished when it is sent. It is finished when the receiving organization confirms the person arrived.
For Anaheim organizations
Anaheim referrals should reach housing
Operation Iron Gate is referral tracking and accountability for homeless services, from Pathfinders for Hope. It is built so every case, every handoff and every outcome can be seen and proven. The first pilot is being prepared in Vallejo, and Anaheim organizations can follow it in the open and ask to be briefed.
What Operation Iron Gate is
What a Anaheim referral would prove
Homelessness solutions stop at the referral. Operation Iron Gate closes the gap they leave open. It strengthens continuity after the intake and assessment that the County of Orange Office of Care Coordination and Anaheim providers already run, with documented handoffs and follow-up.
Nothing closes into “unknown”
There is no exit state in the record that can hold an unknown destination. A case cannot be closed into nothing.
Consent comes before the record
A record cannot exist without a consent step recorded first. Saying no to part of it does not close the door.
What it can do
Four rules the pilot is built on
No ID at the door
An identification barrier should not end an authorized handoff. The proposed Iron Gate Access Credential does not promise same-day eligibility, housing or availability.
Yes by default
The proposed workflow requires a documented decision basis before an authorized denial is recorded.
No dead ends
“Unknown” is not a completed outcome. A handoff stays open until a responsible role records a known next action or an authorized closure.
Tracked handoff
Sending is not closure. The receiving organization’s confirmation is its own status, because sent is not the same as served.
Why it matters
Where Anaheim referrals break
The step after shelter
In the first three months of 2026, Anaheim's outreach team recorded 270 positive exits: 211 to shelter, 47 to temporary housing and 12 to permanent housing. The handoff onward from shelter is where a confirmed record would matter most.
One in three exits to “unknown”
California spent $24 billion on homelessness from 2018 to 2023. Its State Auditor found that nearly one in three people left programs for a destination nobody recorded. Report 2023-102.1.
Bridges at Kraemer Place
Bridges at Kraemer Place, the county's first emergency shelter, opened in Anaheim in 2017 and serves up to 200 adults from north Orange County. Anaheim runs its own outreach dispatch beside it, so referrals cross between city and county teams.
Get involved
How Anaheim organizations can get involved
The North Bay Pilot is recruiting organizations that send referrals, receive referrals, provide a resource, or carry public responsibility for homeless services. Anaheim organizations in any of those roles can watch it now and ask to be briefed.
Follow the North Bay Pilot
The measurement standard is published before the pilot begins, with housing held at 90 days as the lead measure. Results go on The Glass, a public view with no names or case identifiers, whether they are good or bad. See the pilot.
Request a briefing
Tell us your role in Anaheim: whether you send referrals, receive them, provide a resource or oversee public outcomes. Request a briefing.
Your work stays yours
Your services, clients, funding and data stay yours. Read what Operation Iron Gate is and the questions directors ask.
The questions
Operation Iron Gate in Anaheim: questions
Is Operation Iron Gate running in Anaheim?
No. It has not launched anywhere. The first pilot is being prepared in Vallejo, and no Anaheim launch has been announced.
What did the latest count find in Anaheim?
The January 2026 count for the City of Anaheim recorded 1,432 people homeless in Anaheim. Up from 1,417 in 2024. Anaheim holds about 23 percent of the 6,321 people Orange County counted. Of the 1,432 people counted, 891 were sheltered and 541 were unsheltered, down from 601 unsheltered in 2024.
What else is happening in Anaheim?
Anaheim's sheltered count has risen from 589 in 2022 to 816 in 2024 and 891 in 2026. In the first quarter of 2026, the city's Community Care Response Team answered 3,434 dispatched calls with a 7-minute average response and enrolled 895 clients. Anaheim's services include the Salvation Army Anaheim Emergency Shelter, Bridges at Kraemer Place and Covenant House for young adults aged 18 to 24. The city's outreach line, (714) 820-9090, is staffed from 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on weekdays, and the city lists more than 39 affordable housing communities.
Can a Anaheim organization take part?
Cohort 01 is recruiting in Vallejo. A Anaheim organization can request a briefing now. The first conversation is exploratory, and nothing is signed in it.
Does this replace Orange County's system?
No. Operation Iron Gate is not a replacement for the County of Orange, the City of Anaheim's outreach team or any provider's own records. It is built to confirm that a referral between organizations reached the person.
I need help myself. Where do I go?
Call 211 for current local referral information. For food, the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County lists distribution sites across the area. Operation Iron Gate is not open for public intake yet. GATEHOUSE, our community platform and a smaller version of Operation Iron Gate, 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
Every figure is cited
Where these figures come from. Anaheim: County of Orange, 2026 Point In Time Count Report. City of Anaheim, Community Care Response Team dashboard, March 2026. City of Anaheim, Addressing Homelessness. Statewide findings: California State Auditor, Report 2023-102.1 (April 2024). Operation Iron Gate has not been tested in the field. No results are claimed on this page or anywhere on this site, and the North Bay Pilot numbers will be published whether they are good or bad.
Nearby cities. Read the pages for Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Irvine.
The inside track
Don’t wait for the pilot. Walk in now.
Operation Iron Gate starts in Vallejo. Its community platform, GATEHOUSE, is open today. Anaheim 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.
Already a member? Log in
GATEHOUSEMember pass
OPEN NOW- Follow the pilotAnnouncements and Pilot Updates as it is built, the good and the bad.
- Ask the teamOpen Q&A with our team and members who know the referral system.
- Report a dead endSent someone for help and nothing happened? Report it and follow the fix.
- Shape the buildTell us what to add, change or remove before it reaches more cities.
Direct intake · projected Jan 2027