Arizona's 211 hotline is losing its live operators due to budget cuts

Arizona’s 211 crisis hotline will no longer have live operators starting in August. The new state budget provides no funding for the service.

Arizona 211 connects people in crisis to resources and organizations, for food, shelter and more. Solari, which operates 211, says it will continue to update its website directory, but users will no longer be able to speak with a live operator on the phone.

Tanner Swanson is with A New Leaf, a nonprofit that provides a number of support services for those in need. He says this is a blow to the social service sector.

“When you have hundreds of thousands of people, which this hotline receives hundreds of thousands of calls every single year, those calls are going to go somewhere," Swanson said. "It’s not like people are just going to stop calling for help. So they’re going to come through to A New Leaf and other nonprofits all across the Valley, and we’re not set up to take those calls."

Swanson says this shutdown comes on the heels of Maricopa County also discontinuing its domestic violence hotline.