Overview

Working in Partnership with Local Governments To Build a Brighter Future

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program is a federally funded program authorized by Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. The Office of Community Renewal is New York State's administrative agency for the CDBG Program. The CDBG Program provides grants to smaller communities in order to: ensure decent, affordable housing for all; provide services to the most vulnerable in our communities; create jobs and expand business opportunities for implementing a variety of community and economic development activities directed toward neighborhood revitalization and economic development; and to provide improved community facilities and services.

The New York CDBG Program provides community development grants to towns, villages, and cities with a population under 50,000 and counties with an unincorporated population under 200,000. The CDBG Program provides smaller communities with the opportunity to make local decisions concerning community development without duly increasing the local tax burden of their citizens. Please visit our eligible communities page to see if your community is currently eligible for New York CDBG funding.

Under the CDBG Program, approximately $50 million of funding is available annually to eligible communities within New York State. The Office of Community Renewal publishes a Notice of Funding Availability in the early part of each year, inviting eligible communities to submit applications for funding in its annual competitive round for community development activities in the categories of Housing (rehabilitation, homeownership, or construction of new affordable housing), Public Facilities (infrastructure or service-related projects) and MicroEnterprise. On a continuous year-round basis, the Office of Community Renewal invites eligible communities to submit requests for Economic Development projects. In the fall of each year, the Office of Community Renewal invites applications for Strategic Planning Technical Assistance Grants.

Towns, villages, and cities are eligible to receive up to $400,000 for Housing, Public Facilities, and Microenterprise projects, and up to $600,000 for Public Infrastructure (water/sewer only) projects.  County applicants can receive a maximum of $400,000 for Microenterprise projects and up to $750,000 for Housing, Public Facilities, and Public Infrastructure projects.  Applicants wishing to request funding in the Comprehensive project category are eligible for up to $650,000, and applicants applying jointly for assistance with Public Infrastructure (water/sewer only) projects may receive up to $900,000.  For Economic Development grants, the maximum award is $750,000, with a minimum request amount of $100,000.  Strategic Planning Technical Assistance grants are a maximum of $25,000.

Applicants of the CDBG program must ensure that 70% of all activities funded under the program primarily benefit low-and moderate-income households-- those with incomes at or below 80% of the area median income established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Each CDBG-funded activity must also meet one of the national objectives: benefiting low- and moderate-income households; aiding in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight; or meeting community development needs having a particular urgency.

Communities wishing to apply for CDBG funds are encouraged to attend one of the Office of Community Renewal's Application Workshops held annually across the New York State, in the fall. Communities are also encouraged to contact the Office of Community Renewal as early as possible to discuss the viability of potential projects, as well as to review successful applications from prior rounds of competition.