Open now

We’re open. GATEHOUSE, our community platform, is live: a smaller version of Operation Iron Gate. The North Bay Pilot is not open yet (projected January 2027).

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Across California

Every California referral should land

Operation Iron Gate is a confirmed-handoff referral system from Pathfinders for Hope, a California 501(c)(3). A referral is not finished when it is sent. It is finished when the receiving organization confirms the person arrived. The first pilot is being prepared in Vallejo. These pages are for organizations in California's largest cities that want to follow it.

Find your cityRequest a briefing

The cities

Operation Iron Gate, city by city

Solano County · first pilot

Vallejo

The North Bay Pilot is where Operation Iron Gate starts. Cohort 01 is recruiting there now. See the North Bay Pilot.

The standard

Four rules the pilot is built on

  1. 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.

  2. Yes by default

    The proposed workflow requires a documented decision basis before an authorized denial is recorded.

  3. 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.

  4. Tracked handoff

    Sending is not closure. The receiving organization’s confirmation is its own status, because sent is not the same as served.

The questions

Operation Iron Gate in California: questions

Is Operation Iron Gate running in these cities?

Not yet. Operation Iron Gate has not launched anywhere. The first pilot is being prepared in Vallejo. The city pages explain the approach to each city's organizations, so they can follow the pilot and ask to be briefed.

Why is there a page for each city?

Because each city's homelessness response is different: its own count, its own lead agency and its own places where referrals break. Each city page carries that city's latest official count and what it shows.

How can an organization outside Vallejo get involved?

Request a briefing. Tell us your city and whether you send referrals, receive them, provide a resource or carry public responsibility. The first conversation is exploratory, and nothing is signed in it.

I need help myself. Where do I go?

Call 211 anywhere in California for current local referral information. 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.

How does coordinated entry differ by county in California, and what problems does that create?

Each California Continuum of Care, usually one county or a group of counties, runs its own coordinated entry system, as HUD requires. Assessment tools, priority rules and referral steps can change at every CoC line. When a person is referred across that line, the handoff often has no shared status, and people can be lost between systems. Operation Iron Gate, from Pathfinders for Hope, is designed to keep those handoffs visible. Its first pilot is being prepared in Vallejo.

The evidence

Every figure is cited

Where these figures come from. Each city page links its own count to the agency or report that published it. Statewide, California's State Auditor found that nearly one in three people left homelessness programs for a destination nobody recorded, and that tracking of outcomes stopped in 2021: Report 2023-102.1. Operation Iron Gate has not been tested in the field, and no results are claimed anywhere on this site.

Request a briefingWhat it is

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. California 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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GATEHOUSEMember pass

OPEN NOW
Issued to
California organizations
Home base
Vallejo · Solano County
  1. Follow the pilotAnnouncements and Pilot Updates as it is built, the good and the bad.
  2. Ask the teamOpen Q&A with our team and members who know the referral system.
  3. Report a dead endSent someone for help and nothing happened? Report it and follow the fix.
  4. Shape the buildTell us what to add, change or remove before it reaches more cities.
Direct intake · projected Jan 2027