BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey’s administration spent less on the emergency shelter system in fiscal year 2024 than originally anticipated, an outcome state officials attributed to cost-cutting and capacity-constraining measures implemented over the past year.

Multiple reports over the last several months that detail the cost of the emergency shelter system housing migrant and local homeless families showed the Healey administration shelled out $856.8 million last fiscal year, about 8% less than an initial projection from January of $932 million.

A spokesperson for Healey’s budget writing office confirmed the figure was the final spend for the fiscal year and said various policies implemented over the past year, like a cap on the number of families in the system and a limit on lengths of stays, led to the reduced expenses.

The cost of the system, which is projected to run upwards of $1 billion in fiscal years 2025 and 2026 if current demand continues, is still not sustainable for Massachusetts, the spokesperson said in a statement.

Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless Associate Director Kelly Turley said “it is good” that state officials spent less than first expected but argued the public needs to understand that the money is used to pay for services beyond physical shelter space.

“It is important to understand what is the universe of expenses,” she told the Herald. “By lumping it together, it makes it more difficult to advocate for the critical services that families need and has bolstered the case for restricting access to shelter, which we think is dangerous for children and parents.”

Officials have spent hundreds of millions on shelters and associated services, using National Guard personnel to assist shelter operations, running clinical assessment sites, temporary shelters, intake sites, municipal payments and overflow shelters amid an influx of migrants, according to the report released last week.

The massive spend in fiscal year 2024, which is far more than the $325 million the system has historically cost, was partly fueled by the use of expensive hotels and motels as temporary shelters.

“Declaring victory for ‘only’ spending 2 1/2 times the original budget on the ‘right-to-shelter’ law as opposed to being three times over budget is ludicrous, exacerbated by the fact that the increased spending isn’t benefiting Massachusetts residents in need,” said Sen. Ryan Fattman, a Sutton Republican who served on a commission tasked with studying the system.

The lower spending comes after Healey implemented a range of policies aimed at reducing demand on the state-run shelter system, which was created under the 1980s-era “right-to-shelter” law that provides homeless families with children and pregnant women a place to sleep.

Her efforts to rework the system have been met with pushback and criticism.

The October 2023 decision to limit the emergency shelter system to 7,500 families immediately faced an unsuccessful court challenge by Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston, which argued the move undermined the right-to-shelter law.

Advocates have also slammed Healey for limiting families’ time in shelters, including a policy shift last month that slashed lengths of stays from nine to six months and introduced two options for families to access temporary housing.

Even with those restrictions in place, the Healey administration still expects to spend nearly $1.1 billion on the shelter system in fiscal year 2025, which started July 1 and runs through June 30, 2025, according to a report released last month.

That includes an estimated $758 million on shelters and associated services, $87 million on helping families exit the system, and $77 million on overflow shelters that house people for one month, the report said.

Paul Craney of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance said it is always good for state officials to save taxpayers dollars but “clearly the situation before us is that we are irresponsibly spending this money.”

“If (Healey is) looking for a compliment, we won’t give it,” Craney told the Herald. “This is a very bad policy because we’re an outlier. We’re the only state in the country that has this law, this very generous benefit for the world’s migrants.”

The Legislature handed Healey $639 million for shelter spending in fiscal year 2025, but state officials still say there is a $455 million shortfall and money is expected to dry up sometime in January without another injection of funds.

Healey’s top budget writer has said the administration plans to file another spending bill before that runout date but the exact timing is unclear.

“When appropriated funds run out around late January 2025, the commonwealth may not be able to pay providers unless further appropriation is authorized by the Legislature,” the administration said in an October presentation to a state commission.

A spokesperson for the state Senate’s budget writing committee said “any evidence that expenses are coming in lower than anticipated is certainly a welcome development.”

“We will remain vigilant of the overall cost trajectory of the (emergency assistance) program and the impact it has on our state budget going forward,” said Sean Fitzgerald, a spokesman for the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

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