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 San Bernardino organizations
San Bernardino referrals should hold
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 San Bernardino organizations can follow it in the open and ask to be briefed.
What Operation Iron Gate is
What a San Bernardino 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 San Bernardino County Homeless Partnership and San Bernardino 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 San Bernardino referrals break
Every new bed is a new handoff
The City of San Bernardino has grown from about 422 shelter beds in 2022 to 894 today. More beds mean more referrals into them, and more places where the record of whether someone arrived can drop.
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.
Where a referral goes depends on who
In San Bernardino, where a referral goes depends on the person. Men can go to the new Community Wellness Campus, adults will go to the 200-bed SB HOPE Campus Navigation Center when it opens, and families are passed to specialist organizations. Every one of those routes is a handoff.
Get involved
How San Bernardino 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. San Bernardino 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 San Bernardino: 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 San Bernardino: questions
Is Operation Iron Gate running in San Bernardino?
No. It has not launched anywhere. The first pilot is being prepared in Vallejo, and no San Bernardino launch has been announced.
What did the latest count find in San Bernardino?
The 2026 count for the City of San Bernardino recorded 1,172 people homeless in the city. Down 23.6 percent from 1,535. San Bernardino County counted 3,718 people, down 3.1 percent. 737 of the people counted in the city were unsheltered.
What else is happening in San Bernardino?
Countywide, 2,448 people were unsheltered and 1,270 sheltered, and unsheltered homelessness fell by 188 people, or 7.1 percent. The SB Community Wellness Campus at 1354 North G Street opened in July 2026, adding 140 modular interim units for men, paid for with a $34.9 million state grant, beside an existing men's shelter, for 210 beds in all. The city is building the 200-bed SB HOPE Campus Navigation Center at the former School of Hope campus. In March 2026 the county finalized the purchase of a property from the City of Fontana for a regional navigation center serving the West End.
Can a San Bernardino organization take part?
Cohort 01 is recruiting in Vallejo. A San Bernardino organization can request a briefing now. The first conversation is exploratory, and nothing is signed in it.
Does this replace the county's Homeless Partnership?
No. Operation Iron Gate is not a replacement for the San Bernardino County Homeless Partnership or any provider's own records. It is built to confirm that a referral between organizations reached the person. With the city's shelter capacity rising from about 422 beds in 2022 to 894 today, and the county count falling two years running, the handoffs into and out of those beds are where a confirmed record matters most.
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. San Bernardino: City of San Bernardino, 2026 Point-in-Time Count results. IECN, July 2026. City of San Bernardino, Navigation Center. San Bernardino County, March 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 Fontana, Moreno Valley and Riverside.
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. San Bernardino 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