Publicly, the Legislature has not put out a plan of how it will pay the bills and create new guidelines for the system. Governor Maura Healey delivered many of her own proposals in a letter, not actual legislation, and there’s no clarity on when the state Legislature could act to pour more money into the system, or what seismic policy shifts lawmakers could also embrace.

At the same time, President Trump is already tearing down tentpoles of the federal immigration system that many migrant families have relied upon, including two Biden-era programs under which migrants have been given permission to temporarily work and live in the country.

In other words: An already unprecedented situation is barreling into unknown territory, perhaps as soon as Friday.

That’s when Healey administration officials say they’ll be unable to make any payments or enter contracts for services within the emergency shelter system, absent a new infusion of cash. It’s left the nonprofit providers who the state has tapped to run shelters statewide skittish about the future.

“Providers in everyone’s districts are putting more urgency to the need for funding,” state Senator Michael Moore, a Millbury Democrat, said Wednesday after Healey administration officials briefed Senate Democrats. “They’re worried about the funding not being there for them to pay for the services after the deadline.”

State officials said there’s often a lag between when providers bill them and when they’re paid. But it wasn’t immediately clear what would happen should Friday come and go without the Legislature approving more money for the system.

One housing provider, who requested anonymity to discuss communications with the state, told the Globe that Healey administration officials informed their organization that it would receive funding in February to cover January costs, but that payments would otherwise stop if the Legislature doesn’t act by Friday.

The system, and the Legislature, have faced similar pressure before. Lawmakers passed a supplemental spending bill at the end of April last year at a time when Healey said funding was running low.

Months earlier, her administration warned the system would run out of cash early in 2024 if the state did not set a limit on how many families could enter the system — as well as receive more funding from the Legislature. Healey ultimately capped the system at 7,500 families — a limit that remains today — and the Legislature pushed an overdue spending bill to Healey’s desk over Republican objections with weeks to spare.

The latest attempt, however, has its own complications. Healey initially asked lawmakers in early January to dedicate $425 million to the system, while also cutting the length of stay in the shelter system from nine months to six.

Then, days later, she proposed a series of dramatic changes to the state’s unique right-to-shelter law. But she made that request in a letter, without proposing actual legislation, prompting a series of questions from House leaders who said they needed more information before proposing their own bill.

Members of Healey’s Cabinet sent back a 23-page response Monday night, but they did not say how much their various proposals could ultimately save the state — information that would otherwise influence how much money lawmakers set aside for the system for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends in June.

The circumstances have left the Legislature’s Democratic leaders to weigh far-reaching policy and funding decisions while facing a short clock and their own internal limitations. The House and Senate have yet to announce committee or leadership assignments, assign first-year lawmakers to offices, or vote on rules that will govern their two-year legislative calendar. All legislators began their new term on Jan. 1.

At a news conference Wednesday, Healey declined to give more detail about how the state will continue to fund the system. Lawmakers have not filed legislation of their own and the House, which must act first, does not have a formal session scheduled this week, when a spending bill could theoretically emerge for a vote.

State Representative Aaron Michlewitz, the House budget chief who sent Healey officials questions last week, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

“I know discussions are going on right now with the Legislature. I know they’re aware of the calendar on this,” Healey told reporters at an unrelated event at her office Wednesday. “So hopefully we’ll be able to get some resolution.”

Down the hall, Healey’s housing secretary, Ed Augustus, gave a closed-door presentation on the shelter system to Senate Democrats. But he declined to divulge what was discussed to reporters, or whether he gave a similar meeting to House members. He also didn’t respond to a Globe reporter who asked what the plan is for when the cash runs dry.

It’s also unclear if senators were satisfied with the answers they received.

“Lots of questions, lots of questions,” state Senator Cindy Friedman, an Arlington Democrat, told reporters after she left the meeting. She declined to further comment.

The shelter system has sagged under soaring demand in the last few years, demand fueled in part by a surge in migrants fleeing violence and economic instability in their home countries. A report Healey officials filed with lawmakers Monday said that nearly 700 families had applied for shelter in the two weeks between Jan. 9 and Jan. 23, while just 220 families exited the system.

State officials said there were 6,290 families in the system as of Wednesday, far below the state-imposed cap.

Healey has repeatedly sought to tighten the system, and pledged to move out the thousands of families currently being housed in hotels or motels by year’s end. She told lawmakers earlier this month she wants a variety of changes to state law, including eliminating so-called presumed eligibility in the state’s screening process.

Under current law, shelter applicants don’t need to provide documentation upfront that they meet the system’s wide-ranging eligibility requirements. Healey instead wants to require that the state first verify identity, residency, and other information before someone is admitted to the system.

Healey also wants a requirement that all shelter applicants show they have “an intent to remain in Massachusetts,” either through what she called “independent documentary verification,” or by having a “physical presence” here over the previous three months. She also proposed reducing the length of stay in the shelter system from nine months to six.

State Senator Liz Miranda, a Roxbury Democrat, said some of the Healey administration’s proposals give her pause.

“People can’t find housing in six months, right? They can’t find it in nine months,” she said.

Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross. Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him @mattpstout.