BOSTON - The heavily scrutinized right-to-shelter law in Massachusetts would change significantly under a new proposal shared by Gov. Maura Healey Wednesday. The policy that became law in 1983 guarantees emergency housing to homeless families and pregnant women.

Gov. Maura Healey proposed a series of major changes to state-run emergency shelters Wednesday that attempt to cordon off the maxed-out system from individuals who are not Massachusetts residents, including by implementing a three-month residency requirement.

The residency requirements could effectively end the law as it's currently applied, meaning newly arrived immigrants could be ineligible.

Governor Maura Healey said the right-to-shelter laws' “original intent” was not to cover the “waves and waves of people,” including migrant families, who have come into the state in recent years.

Less than a week after condemning security concerns surrounding a lack of background checks performed at shelters, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is proposing changes to the state's right-to-shelter law.

The "changes are appropriate and needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the state shelter system," Gov. Maura Healey said Wednesday.

"I believe these changes are appropriate and needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the state shelter system," she said.

The governor of Massachusetts has proposed that at least one member of a family staying in emergency shelters be in the country legally, hardening her stance at a time when concerns were raised about the safety at the facilties.