12News: PHOENIX — A statewide resource for health and human services is facing a significant change at the end of the summer.
211 Arizona will discontinue its live-answer phone operations on Aug. 13, according to Solari.
The hotline serves as an information and referral services program. It operates as a daily call center with trained specialists who help people navigate housing insecurity, healthcare access, and transportation needs, among other challenges.
It’s often the first number Arizonans are encouraged to call in crisis, but come August, it will be an automated system on the other end of the phone.
Solari, the nonprofit organization that runs 211 Arizona, announced its decision to cut the live-answer operation came after the program was excluded from the latest state budget and left without the necessary funding to continue operating at its current level.
“For years, 211 Arizona has served as a lifeline for individuals and families seeking help during some of life’s most challenging moments,” Justin Chase, Chief Executive Officer of Solari Crisis & Human Services, said. “While we are incredibly proud of the impact this service has had across our state, we are deeply saddened that sustainable funding was not secured to allow live-answer services to continue. Every day, our team helped people navigate housing instability, food insecurity, utility assistance, healthcare access, transportation needs, and countless other challenges. Those needs remain, even as this chapter comes to a close.”
In the decade Solari operated 211 Arizona, it reported answering more than 700,000 calls in English and Spanish and referring more than 1 million services.
“We’re going to have a much harder time getting connected to the people who need our services,” A New Leaf marketing director, Tanner Swanson, said.
Swanson said thousands of people who utilized A New Leaf’s shelter services were referred by 211 Arizona. He worries that without the human conversation and connection, people will miss out on critical services.
“If we’re very serious about solving the housing crisis here in Phoenix, if we’re serious about wanting families to be able to thrive in our city, we have to have resources like this available,” Swanson said.
12News reached out to Gov. Katie Hobbs’ office for a statement in response to the lack of funding for Arizona 211 in the budget signed this weekend. Below was the office’s response:
“This is a bipartisan budget, born out of real negotiations between Governor Hobbs and both Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate. Nobody got everything they wanted, but that’s what compromise looks like.
Governor Hobbs is proud of the bipartisan results we’re delivering: a $1.4 billion tax cut for working families, a moratorium on the data center tax credit, and investments in public safety, education and water security. It puts Arizona First.
We deeply value the Arizona 211 live operator line for connecting Arizonans, especially our most vulnerable, to critical services.
Since 2023, Governor Hobbs has supported Arizona 211 and its associated initiatives with more than $25 million in investments, including with time-limited American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds when the Legislature did not provide funding.
Because we recognize Arizona 211’s vital role for the state, our office worked last year to prevent an interruption in service, brokering support from APS and other utility partners to fund 211 through early 2026.
This, combined with the $1 million General Fund investment secured in last year’s bipartisan budget, means that Arizona 211 should have enough funding to continue providing critical services into this coming fiscal year, including through the summer heat season. The Governor’s Office is actively engaged in conversations with community partners, including local governments, nonprofits, philanthropies, and utilities, about how to sustain the Arizona 211 service into the future.
According to providers and partners, Arizonans can still reach the 211 Arizona resource database at 211arizona.org or by dialing 2-1-1 to access the automated phone system.”
The 211 Arizona website will continue beyond August 13.