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 Corona organizations
Corona referrals should reach the team
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 Corona organizations can follow it in the open and ask to be briefed.
What Operation Iron Gate is
What a Corona 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 Riverside County Housing and Workforce Solutions and Corona 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 Corona referrals break
The shelter door is not the way in
The Harrison HOPE Center, run by Mercy House since 2023, is a 40-bed emergency shelter for single adults and is not a walk-up facility. A partner referring someone has to reach the police HOPE Team or City Net first.
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.
Outreach seven days a week
Corona's outreach is a five-member police HOPE Team working seven days a week, plus five City Net case managers. The city also runs 33 motel emergency-shelter rooms and shares homeless services with Norco, so a referral can move between several programs in one week.
Get involved
How Corona 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. Corona 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 Corona: 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 Corona: questions
Is Operation Iron Gate running in Corona?
No. It has not launched anywhere. The first pilot is being prepared in Vallejo, and no Corona launch has been announced.
What did the latest count find in Corona?
The January 2025 count for the City of Corona recorded 254 people homeless in Corona. The county's 2025 count found 108 people unsheltered and 146 sheltered in the city. The city says the 2023 count found 65 people unsheltered. Of the 254 people counted, 108 were unsheltered and 146 were sheltered.
What else is happening in Corona?
Riverside County held only a sheltered count in 2026, so 2025 is still the latest full count for Corona. As of January 2024 Corona had 90 permanent supportive housing units, 65 completed and 25 in the pipeline, and it puts $5.7 million a year of local money into homelessness.
Can a Corona organization take part?
Cohort 01 is recruiting in Vallejo. A Corona organization can request a briefing now. The first conversation is exploratory, and nothing is signed in it.
Does this replace Riverside County's system or the HOPE Team?
No. Operation Iron Gate is not a replacement for Riverside County Housing and Workforce Solutions, Corona's HOPE Team, City Net, Mercy House 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 Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino 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. Corona: Riverside County Housing and Workforce Solutions, 2025 Point-in-Time Count. Mercy House, Riverside County. City of Corona, The Road Home. City of Corona, Homeless Solutions Dashboard, January 2024. 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 Riverside, Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga.
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. Corona 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