Overview
- Solari announced Monday that it will end live-answer 211 services on August 13, 2026, and that callers can use an automated phone system and the 211Arizona.org resource database starting August 14.
- For a decade Solari operated 211 Arizona and says live staff answered more than 700,000 calls, made over 1.1 million referrals, and arranged more than 70,000 rides, including about 18,000 heat-relief rides in the last three years.
- Local nonprofits warn that the loss of human operators will redirect high call volumes to service providers that are not staffed to take them, creating longer waits and missed connections for people in crisis.
- The Maricopa County Department of Public Health says it relied on 211 for heat-relief coordination and is developing short-term plans to keep people linked to cooling centers and transportation through the official heat season ending September 30.
- Advocates note other recent hotline cuts, such as SafeDVS, and are calling for restored, sustainable funding or operational solutions to prevent wider breaks in the state’s safety-net referral system.