Advocates for unhoused Vermonters are calling on lawmakers to remove restrictions on the state’s motel voucher program in the coming year’s budget, including an 80-night limit on voucher stays and an 1,100 cap on available rooms during the warmer months.

“The caps are not grounded in any reality,” said Frank Knaack, executive director of the Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont, at a Statehouse news conference on Tuesday.

It often takes many months for someone experiencing homelessness to find permanent housing, Knaack said. The politically contentious voucher program plays a critical role in keeping unhoused people indoors, he added, pointing to a glaring mismatch: Vermont has about 5,000 people experiencing homelessness, according to current tallies by service providers, and space for about 670 households in traditional shelters.

Lawmakers’ draft budget would continue the limits on the motel voucher program that were enacted last year, resulting in the evictions of hundreds of people — including young children — over the course of the fall.

Many lawmakers lambasted the caps as their impacts became clear, and as recently as March, Democratic leaders in the Legislature attempted to lift the restrictions to avoid another wave of evictions. A heated disagreement with Republican Gov. Phil Scott over the extension tanked a midyear spending bill, which never passed.

This go-around, however, both the House and Senate have agreed to a budget containing the caps, at a price tag of about $38 million — matching what Scott’s administration recommended for the program earlier this year.

As representatives from both chambers meet over the next few days to hash out their differences over the budget, they’re unlikely to tinker with the motel program piece, according to Rep. Robin Scheu, D-Middlebury, the lead budget writer in the House.