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 Stockton organizations
Stockton referrals should be proven
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 Stockton organizations can follow it in the open and ask to be briefed.
What Operation Iron Gate is
What a Stockton 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 Joaquin Continuum of Care and Stockton 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 Stockton referrals break
Staying housed is the next test
San Joaquin County brought roughly 1,300 permanent housing options online between 2024 and 2026. The next question is whether people stay housed, and that depends on every follow-up referral after move-in reaching the person.
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.
Hospitals, health plans and full campuses
Stockton's shelter capacity sits in a few large downtown campuses, and new beds are increasingly paid for by health plans and built for people leaving hospital care. Many handoffs now start at a hospital or a health plan and end at a campus that may be full.
Get involved
How Stockton 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. Stockton 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 Stockton: 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 Stockton: questions
Is Operation Iron Gate running in Stockton?
No. It has not launched anywhere. The first pilot is being prepared in Vallejo, and no Stockton launch has been announced.
What did the latest count find in Stockton?
The 2026 count for the San Joaquin County recorded 3,306 people homeless across the county. Unsheltered homelessness fell 47 percent from 2024, to 1,838 people, while 1,468 were sheltered. Volunteers deployed for the count from Lodi, Manteca, Stockton and Tracy.
What else is happening in Stockton?
The number of people living in permanent housing rose 86 percent, as the county added more than 100 shelter beds and more than 1,000 permanent units. The City of Stockton counted 1,850 people in 2026, 1,250 unsheltered and 600 sheltered, about 56 percent of the county total. Gospel Center Rescue Mission opened a 110-bed, three-story New Life Program center in February 2026, with a recuperative-care unit for people leaving hospital stays, funded in part by $6.5 million from Health Plan of San Joaquin.
Can a Stockton organization take part?
Cohort 01 is recruiting in Vallejo. A Stockton organization can request a briefing now. The first conversation is exploratory, and nothing is signed in it.
Does this replace the Continuum of Care's system?
No. Operation Iron Gate is not a replacement for the San Joaquin Continuum of Care or any provider's own records. It is built to confirm that a referral between organizations reached the person, including the follow-up referrals for people moving into the roughly 1,300 permanent housing options San Joaquin County opened between 2024 and 2026.
I need help myself. Where do I go?
Call 211 for current local referral information. For food, the Emergency Food Bank of Stockton/San Joaquin 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. Stockton: San Joaquin Continuum of Care, 2026 Point-in-Time Count. San Joaquin Continuum of Care, 2026 Point-in-Time Count Report. Stocktonia, February 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 Modesto, Elk Grove and Sacramento.
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. Stockton 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