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 Diego organizations
San Diego referrals should end in an arrival
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 Diego organizations can follow it in the open and ask to be briefed.
What Operation Iron Gate is
What a San Diego 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 Regional Task Force on Homelessness and San Diego 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 Diego referrals break
A falling total can hide who is left
San Diego County's 2026 count fell slightly overall, but homelessness among older adults kept climbing. Those are the people most likely to be referred across several agencies for health, benefits and housing at once, and the ones a lost handoff costs the 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.
Every provider is a front door
More than 130 providers in the San Diego region share data through a Community Information Exchange, and every provider is an access point. Handoffs here run across a very large network rather than one front door, which makes a confirmed arrival the piece that ties it together.
Get involved
How San Diego 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 Diego 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 Diego: 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 Diego: questions
Is Operation Iron Gate running in San Diego?
No. It has not launched anywhere. The first pilot is being prepared in Vallejo, and no San Diego launch has been announced.
What did the latest count find in San Diego?
The 2026 count for the San Diego County recorded 9,803 people homeless across the county. Down 1 percent from 2025. Street homelessness fell 11 percent while senior homelessness kept rising. Unsheltered veterans fell 12 percent, and the region is close to functional zero for veterans.
What else is happening in San Diego?
Nearly 1,700 volunteers carried out the count in the early morning of January 29, and sheltered homelessness rose 12 percent. San Diego is the fourth-largest Continuum of Care in the country, spanning 18 cities, 6 public housing authorities, the county and over 125 service providers with at least 1,500 frontline staff, and its plan counts 109 agencies in the Continuum of Care network. First-time homelessness averaged about 1,169 people a month over three years, and August 2025 was the first month in nearly three years when exits from homelessness outpaced new entries.
Can a San Diego organization take part?
Cohort 01 is recruiting in Vallejo. A San Diego organization can request a briefing now. The first conversation is exploratory, and nothing is signed in it.
Does this replace the Regional Task Force's work or our own system?
No. Operation Iron Gate is not a replacement for the Regional Task Force on Homelessness or any provider's system. It is built to confirm that a referral between organizations reached the person, after the intake and assessment the region already runs.
I need help myself. Where do I go?
Call 211 for current local referral information. For food, the San Diego Food Bank 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 Diego: Regional Task Force on Homelessness, 2026 We All Count Point-in-Time Count. Regional Task Force on Homelessness, Regional Plan one-pagers. 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 Chula Vista, Oceanside 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. San Diego 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