HELP Act: Strengthening 211 and 988 Crisis Networks

The HELP Act — the Human-services Emergency Logistic Program Act — is a bipartisan federal bill to expand the 211 social services helpline, tie it more tightly to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and 911, and put federal money and reporting requirements behind both networks. It was first introduced in 2023 and reintroduced in the 119th Congress as H.R. 8520, the HELP Act of 2026.¹

What the Bill Would Do

The legislation is built around four goals for the 211 and 988 networks:

Make 211 services available and accessible to all residents and visitors in the United States, closing gaps in coverage and capacity.²
Improve coordination among 211, 988, and 911 so a person who reaches one system gets connected to the right resource instead of falling through the cracks.³
Support public-awareness efforts so more people know 211 and 988 exist.
Require annual reporting and evaluation on how federal funding is used.

The 211 helpline connects callers to local health and human services, including housing help, food programs, utility aid, and disaster relief. It reaches roughly 99 percent of the U.S. population through nearly 200 call centers and more than 2,000 community resource specialists, about 80 percent of them operated or funded in part by local United Ways.⁴ The 988 Lifeline, launched in July 2022, has taken more than 12 million calls, texts, and chats.⁵

Why Congress Is Looking at It Now

Demand on 211 has climbed sharply. In 2024, the network handled 16.8 million requests — an average of 32 interactions per minute — and made more than 18 million referrals to local services. Housing and utility assistance together accounted for 47 percent of those referrals.⁴

Housing has been the fastest-growing category. Referrals nearly doubled from 2.9 million in 2019 to 5.6 million in 2024, and reached 6 million annually by 2026, a 150 percent increase over the past decade. Disaster-related referrals jumped more than 50 percent between 2023 and 2024.³ United Way Worldwide has described the 211 system as “long been under-resourced” against that demand, and notes that the network still lacks a unified national real-time data dashboard.⁴

Status in Congress

The bill first appeared on May 18, 2023, as H.R. 3498 in the House and S. 1729 in the Senate. The House version was sponsored by Rep. Brian Higgins of New York and co-sponsored by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, and was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. It did not reach a floor vote.²

It returned in the 119th Congress as H.R. 8520, the HELP Act of 2026.¹ Rep. Fitzpatrick and Rep. Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky are named as key House sponsors of the reintroduced bill.³

Who’s Backing It

United Way Worldwide announced its support for the reintroduced bill on April 28, 2026. Angela F. Williams, the organization’s president and CEO, said 211 plays a “key role in connecting families and community members with critical health and human services nationwide” and called the HELP Act a “smart, bipartisan investment.”⁶

Rep. Fitzpatrick described 211 as a “trusted place to turn” for essential services. Rep. McGarvey said the bill lets families “make one call and get immediate answers” about housing, food, and mental health, before a situation worsens.³

Other Bills Called the HELP Act

Several unrelated bills share the acronym, and it’s easy to land on the wrong one.

The Housing Emergencies Lifeline Program (HELP) Act, introduced on February 10, 2022, by Representatives Ayanna Pressley, Rosa DeLauro, and Cori Bush, addresses evictions rather than crisis hotlines. It would bar reporting evictions and rent or utility debt to credit agencies, authorize $10 billion in Emergency Solution Grants for tenant legal representation, require landlords to put reasons for eviction in writing, and direct HUD to build a national eviction database.⁷⁸

The Hauling Exemptions for Livestock Protection Act, filed in the 119th Congress as H.R. 4500 by Rep. Jeff Hurd of Colorado, would exempt certain livestock hauling vehicles from hours-of-service and electronic logging device rules. It was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.⁹

The Helping Eliminate Limitations for Prompt Response and Recovery Act (S. 594) amends post-Katrina emergency management law by repealing an obsolete DHS contracting provision and adding reporting requirements for FEMA contracts. It passed the Senate on December 16, 2025.¹⁰ None of these bills are related to the 211/988-focused Human-services Emergency Logistic Program Act.

1
Congress.gov. H.R. 8520 – HELP Act of 2026
2
GovInfo. H.R. 3498 – Human-services Emergency Logistic Program Act of 2023
3
United Way Worldwide. United Way Worldwide Backs Bipartisan HELP Act to Strengthen 211 System Amid Growing Demand
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United Way Worldwide. 211 Helpline Data Reveals Most Pressing U.S. Community Needs
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SAMHSA. 2025 National Guidelines for a Behavioral Health Coordinated System of Crisis Care
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United Way Worldwide. United Way Worldwide Applauds the Bipartisan Introduction of the HELP Act in the U.S. Senate
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National Low Income Housing Coalition. Representatives Pressley, DeLauro, and Bush Introduce Bill to Protect Families Facing Eviction
8
Office of Rep. Pressley. The Housing Emergencies Lifeline Program (HELP) Act
9
GovInfo. H.R. 4500 – Hauling Exemptions for Livestock Protection Act
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Office of Sen. Kennedy. HELP Response and Recovery Act