SAN FRANCISCO - City welfare officials have agreed to stop sending homeless people to Humboldt County without notifying their counterparts in the far northern county.

The agreement reached Friday resolves a dispute that began after Humboldt County officials learned that San Francisco had sent at least 13 homeless people north on one-way bus tickets over the past year.

San Francisco officials said they will start informing Humboldt officials whenever homeless people are sent over its borders through the city's Homeward Bound program. They will also verify beforehand that the person is actually from Humboldt, located about 200 miles north along the coast.

Created about one year ago, the program sends street people home if their friends or family members are willing to help after they return. So far, more than 960 homeless people have gotten one-way bus tickets to nearly every state of the nation.

After learning about the program, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors sent a letter to city Human Services Director Trent Rhorer on Thursday, complaining that San Francisco is sticking the Humboldt area with its problems and dubbing Homeward Bound warmed-over "Greyhound Therapy."