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 Sacramento organizations
Sacramento referrals should land
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 Sacramento organizations can follow it in the open and ask to be briefed.
What Operation Iron Gate is
What a Sacramento 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 Sacramento Steps Forward and Sacramento 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 Sacramento referrals break
A referral that crosses the county line
People outside in Sacramento County are spread across the city, the unincorporated county and the surrounding cities. A referral often has to cross from one jurisdiction's outreach team to another's shelter, and that crossing is where the record is most likely to stop.
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.
Watt Avenue Safe Stay
The county's Watt Avenue Safe Stay in North Highlands is planned to serve about 350 people at a time, with 250 beds in tiny-home villages, and is now expected to cost more than $60 million after missing its end-of-2025 opening target. A site that size will take referrals from across the county.
Get involved
How Sacramento 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. Sacramento 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 Sacramento: 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 Sacramento: questions
Is Operation Iron Gate running in Sacramento?
No. It has not launched anywhere. The first pilot is being prepared in Vallejo, and no Sacramento launch has been announced.
What did the latest count find in Sacramento?
The January 2026 count for the Sacramento County recorded 7,458 people homeless across the county. Up 13 percent from 2024. About 59 percent of the people found unsheltered were in the City of Sacramento, with the rest in the unincorporated county and surrounding cities.
What else is happening in Sacramento?
Street outreach connected 1,110 people to shelter or housing, up 143 percent since the 2024 count, while the number of people living outdoors or in vehicles rose 6.6 percent, an estimated 261 people. Since the 2024 count, the county's system added 491 emergency shelter and transitional housing beds, up 15 percent. The county bought the former Price Club warehouse on Watt Avenue for about $23 million in 2022.
Can a Sacramento organization take part?
Cohort 01 is recruiting in Vallejo. A Sacramento organization can request a briefing now. The first conversation is exploratory, and nothing is signed in it.
Does this replace Sacramento Steps Forward's system?
No. Operation Iron Gate is not a replacement for Sacramento Steps Forward, the county or any provider's own records. It is built to confirm that a referral between organizations reached the person, including one that crosses from the city into the county's system.
I need help myself. Where do I go?
Call 211 for current local referral information. For food, the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services 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. Sacramento: Sacramento Steps Forward, 2026 Point-in-Time Count. Sacramento Steps Forward, 2026 report. CapRadio, May 2026. 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 Elk Grove, Stockton and Santa Rosa.
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. Sacramento 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