NY A09616

Establishes a housing preference for care workers—including direct support professionals, certified nursing assistants, nurses, behavioral health staff, and early intervention therapists—in affordable housing programs funded through low-income housing tax credits, agency-issued bonds, or HOME funds

Preference applies during the first 60 days of each marketing cycle and caps at 20% of restricted units (sponsors may opt for 10% or 5% instead)

Administered through lottery weighting or tie-breaking procedures, not set-asides, so all income-eligible applicants remain eligible regardless of employment

Amends the qualified allocation plan to award up to 5 points for developers adopting the preference: 5 points for 20% of units, 3 points for 10%, and 1 point for 5%

Requires participating developments to submit marketing and outreach plans including partnerships with care workforce entities, multilingual materials, evening/weekend application assistance, and annual reporting