Top House budget writers released a $425 million spending bill to fund state-run shelters that seeks to temporarily cap the emergency assistance program at 4,000 families starting next year and

The bill features temporary reforms including “stricter eligibility requirements, along with increased security measures” that House Speaker Ronald Mariano said could ensure the program can endure financially in the long term.

A House spending bill would shrink the state-run emergency family shelter system and impose restrictions based on immigration status. Why it matters: The proposal's restrictions would reshape the 42-year-old right-to-shelter law that until recently has covered broad swaths of unhoused individuals.

The $425 million emergency shelter system bill that the Massachusetts House of Representatives will vote on Thursday features temporary reforms including “stricter eligibility requirements, along with increased security measures” that House Speaker Ronald Mariano said could ensure the program can endure financially in the long term.