The decision by the city to halt housing vouchers for the formerly homeless has some worried they could end up back in a city shelter.

On Thursday, the city announced it was notifying 15,000 households — most of them families with children — that there will be no more rental subsidies starting on April 1. The Department of Homeless Services said it had no other choice given the state's decision to defund the housing program called Advantage.

Natalie Rizzo and her 11-year-old son have been in the program just over a year.

"A lot of people are getting back on their feet with this program, and I'm actually one of them," Rizzo said. 

The single mother said she works part time and is close to receiving a teaching certificate that will allow her to work as a teacher's assistant. If she loses her housing subsidy she said she'll need to quit school to get a full time job that will pay enough to cover the full rent. Rizzo said she's trying not to stress out about the loss of her rent subsidy.

"Even though inside and at night I toss and turn,' she said. "I don't get sleep thinking about what's going to be the next move for me."

Nelson Maldonado is also worried about what losing his housing subsidy would mean for him and his young son. Maldonado said his job as a maintenance instructor doesn't pay enough to cover his rent because the hours change from week to week. He worries about ending up back in shelter.

"I don't have anywhere else to go," he said. "I've actually been doing a lot of work in the apartment. ... And I'm going to stop even doing that because I may not be there very long."

The city said the $140 million program is impossible to sustain without the state money and the federal matching funds that come with it. 

A spokesman for Governor Andrew Cuomo said the city could pay for the program if it wanted to. "The city seems intent on manufacturing a crisis and endangering thousands of New Yorkers," the spokesman, Josh Vlasto, said.

Seth Diamond, Commissioner for the Department of Homeless Services countered that claim.

"The state budget has created the crisis that may now prove devastating for our city's homeless families," he said.

A group that advocates on behalf of shelter providers said it was shocked by the city's decision to halt the housing subsidies. In a written statement, Christy Parque from Homeless Services United said, "The failure of the city and the state to come to a resolution on the budget has lead to a game of political chicken in which the homeless and formerly homeless will suffer the consequences."

Coalition for the Homeless, another advocacy group, said it's working with Legal Aid to seek an injunction to stop the city from terminating subsidies for current recipients. The organization has been critical of the Advantage program because it argues the subsidy doesn't give families enough time to get back on their feet. It typically lasts two years.

"Even though the program is a failure, a promise is a promise, and there's no question the city has a legal commitment to continue paying those rent subsidies," policy analyst Patrick Markee said.

According to Marquee, 26 percent of families who use the Advantage voucher end up back in the shelter. The city disputes those numbers and says the number is more like 10 percent.

The Advantage housing program was created by the Bloomberg Administration around 2007. According to the city, 20,000 households have used the voucher to move out of shelter and into permanent apartments.

The city is predicting that without the housing subsidy there will be a 51 percent increase in the shelter population and the need for 70 new shelters by next summer.