New York's $200M Downtown Round: How DRI 10 and NY Forward 5 Will Pick Winners
November 10, 2026 · 7 min read
Granted Research Team · Editorial policy
New York has now spent $1.34 billion on 178 downtowns through two programs, and the tenth time around the rules for getting in look more like a housing policy than a main-street grant. Governor Kathy Hochul opened the newest $200 million round on October 29, covering Round 10 of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) and Round 5 of NY Forward, its small-town counterpart. Applications are due through the Consolidated Funding Application (CFA) portal by 4 p.m. on Friday, January 8, 2027. New York City neighborhoods have to submit through their Borough President by 4 p.m. on December 30, 2026.
The money only reaches certified Pro-Housing Communities. In practice, a city, town, or village that has not dealt with Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) about its housing commitments is out before the downtown pitch is even read. Here is how the round is built, who it favors, and what the state's application and submission requirements say about writing a winning 20 pages.
Where the $200 Million Actually Goes
The award structure is very regional. New York's ten Regional Economic Development Councils (REDCs) each nominate winners from their own territory, so applicants compete against neighbors, not against the whole state.
DRI Round 10 (over $100 million allocated):
- In the eight upstate regions (Capital, Central New York, Finger Lakes, Mid-Hudson, Mohawk Valley, North Country, Southern Tier, Western New York): one $10 million award per region, to a single community or to a joint application from two to three smaller contiguous communities with one unified vision.
- New York City: one $20 million DRI award.
- Long Island: two $10 million DRI awards.
NY Forward Round 5 (up to $100 million allocated):
- In the eight upstate regions: two $4.5 million awards per region.
- NYC and Long Island get no NY Forward awards. That money is folded into their larger DRI awards, which is why NYC gets a single $20 million grant and Long Island gets two $10 million grants.
Add it up and the upstate prizes come to $152 million (eight regions times $10 million plus $9 million). NYC and Long Island add $40 million. The rest of the $200 million pays for the consultant teams, technical assistance, and capacity-building that come with every award. That makes 27 awards: 24 upstate, one in NYC, and two on Long Island. More municipalities benefit if joint DRI bids win. Each upstate region has three slots, one DRI and two NY Forward, and in most regions dozens of municipalities could plausibly apply.
For scale, the DRI has put $1 billion into 101 communities across its first nine rounds since 2016. NY Forward has put $340 million into 77 communities over four rounds. Round 9 alone funded 10 new DRI communities with $100 million, and NY Forward Round 4 added another $100 million.
Pro-Housing Certification Is the Real First Deadline
Since the FY2025 enacted budget, the Pro-Housing Community designation has been a requirement for cities, towns, and villages to access state discretionary programs, DRI and NY Forward included. More than 460 municipalities are now certified.
The application guide gives two routes in:
- Already be certified as a Pro-Housing Community, or have submitted a letter of intent to HCR, before applying.
- Apply to HCR for certification at the same time as the DRI/NY Forward application, and be approved before award announcements.
The second route is technically open, but it is a risk. Awards are expected on a rolling basis in spring 2027. A REDC weighing two otherwise comparable downtowns has every reason to prefer the one whose certification is already settled. If your municipality is not yet certified, the HCR filing should go out this month, not in the first week of January.
DRI or NY Forward: Choosing the Right Lane
Communities may apply to both programs, and one application can serve both if the NY Forward area is the same as, or a subarea of, the DRI area. But the state's guide asks applicants to "think carefully" about fit, and its comparison chart makes the difference plain:
| DRI | NY Forward | |
|---|---|---|
| Character | Regional draw, employment center, dense mixed-use | Villages, hamlets, neighborhood centers; "small-town charm" |
| Transportation | Multi-modal; transit-oriented development possible | Mostly car-dependent |
| Buildings | Mostly three or more stories | Mostly two to four stories |
| Typical projects | New construction, adaptive reuse, large mixed-use | Vacancy reduction, upper-story activation, renovation |
| Shovel-ready pipeline required | At least $12–15M | At least $6–8M |
| Small Project Fund cap | $600,000 | $300,000 (up to $600,000 with demonstrated demand) |
The pipeline threshold is the line most applicants underestimate. A DRI applicant has to show $12 million to $15 million in ready-to-go revitalization projects to compete for a $10 million award. NY Forward applicants need $6 million to $8 million for a $4.5 million award. Award funding cannot go to a single project. The state wants a synergistic portfolio, and it wants evidence that private and other public capital will follow.
For a village of 3,000 with a few vacant storefronts and a promising mill building, NY Forward is the realistic play. For a small city with a hospital, a SUNY campus, and a train station, DRI's $10 million is the target. A weak DRI application from a NY Forward-scale downtown loses to both.
The Eight Criteria REDCs Score
Section 5 of the application guide lists what each REDC will weigh:
- Eligible applicants (the Pro-Housing gate above)
- Well-defined boundaries: compact and walkable. No minimum or maximum size, but it has to be a concentrated area. In NYC, boundaries should center on commercial corridors, not entire residential neighborhoods or zip codes.
- Past investments, future potential: nearby REDC-backed projects, developable sites (including for mixed-income housing), anchor institutions, business improvement districts, land banks, active IDAs, and infrastructure capacity.
- Recent or impending job growth: new and expanding employers, and jobs reachable on foot or by transit.
- Quality of life: housing at varied affordability, food access, health care, broadband, walkability, and design for all ages.
- Supportive local policies: modern zoning, adaptive reuse rules, Complete Streets, Climate Smart or Clean Energy Community status, and eligibility for AARP/WHO Age-Friendly certification.
- Public support: a documented, open community engagement process that produces a vision and a preliminary project list. The guide tells applicants to advertise public events at least two weeks ahead.
- Transformative project opportunities and readiness, plus administrative capacity: projects implementable within one to two years of funding, with proof like feasibility studies, site control, funding commitments, or developer interest.
Several of these criteria reward groundwork that cannot be done in eight weeks. A municipality that adopted form-based zoning, joined the Climate Smart Communities program, or set up a BID years ago carries those points into the application. One that has not can still compete, but it has to make up the gap in project readiness and public engagement.
Mechanics That Trip Up Applicants
The 20-page cap includes maps and graphics. The cover page and letters of support do not count. Most first-time applicants overwrite the narrative and cut their project table, which is backwards. REDCs read the project list and the readiness evidence closely.
Private project sponsors owe a 25% match. Projects with public or nonprofit sponsors have no minimum, though the Local Planning Committee can impose a higher match later. Standalone projects should total at least $100,000. Property acquisition can be part of a project budget but must be paid for from another source. Pre-award costs are not reimbursable.
Parking only counts if it serves new development. Parking garages and lots are considered only when they directly support new downtown development.
New construction and major rehab carry energy requirements. The application lays out efficiency paths, such as beating the state energy code baseline, an Energy Star score of 90 or higher, or equivalent certifications, that sponsors must be ready to meet.
Prior winners can apply again, with conditions. A previous DRI or NY Forward community can apply for a different area or a larger one, but only if the REDC and the Department of State find the earlier projects substantially complete and local capacity still available. Any project site that was funded before must propose new or expanded uses.
The Intent to Apply is optional but valuable. Submitting it by December 21, 2026 guarantees access to one-on-one technical assistance office hours through December. The November 5 application webinar has passed, but the recording is on the DRI and NY Forward program pages, along with six Pace Land Use Law Center capacity-building webinars.
What Winning Actually Buys You
Selection is not a check. Winning communities get a Department of State project manager and a consultant team. They then form a Local Planning Committee of local stakeholders, which spends about nine months producing a Strategic Investment Plan. That process includes an open call for projects, so the list in the application is a starting point, not a guarantee. The LPC recommends projects, state agencies evaluate them, and final project awards follow. The planning phase starts in summer 2027, and the application guide points to project timeframes running into mid-2028 and beyond.
For grant writers working with municipalities, the takeaway is to treat the application as the first draft of the Strategic Investment Plan. A credible $12 million (DRI) or $6 million (NY Forward) pipeline, a documented public process, a clean boundary map, and settled Pro-Housing status are what move a REDC. Nonprofits and private developers in a candidate downtown should get their projects onto the municipality's list now, with site control and a match plan attached. Sponsors who show up after the award will be competing in the open call against projects the LPC has already seen.
The state has run this playbook nine times. The communities that win usually spent the fall before the deadline holding public meetings, not writing prose. If your municipality is building its project pipeline and narrative for the January 8 deadline, Granted can help turn a community vision and a project spreadsheet into a disciplined, criteria-mapped 20-page application.