The Quality Housing Program is a specific set of standards and requirements that, in conjunction with the bulk provisions for Quality Housing buildings set forth in Article II, Chapter 3, and Article III, Chapter 5, as applicable, apply to buildings containing residences, long-term care facilities or philanthropic or non-profit institutions with sleeping accommodations, or some combination thereof as follows:

(a)        In R6A, R6B, R7A, R7B, R7D, R7X, R8A, R8B, R8X, R9A, R9D, R9X, R10A or R10X Districts, and in the equivalent Commercial Districts listed in Sections 34-111 and 34-112, all such buildings shall comply with the Quality Housing Program standards and requirements as set forth in this Chapter.

(b)        In other R6, R7, R8, R9 or R10 Districts, and in the equivalent Commercial Districts listed in Sections 34-111 and 34-112, all developments and enlargements of such buildings utilizing the Quality Housing bulk regulations in Article II, Chapter 3, shall comply with the Quality Housing Program standards and requirements set forth in this Chapter.

(c)        In R5D Districts, only the requirements set forth in Sections 28-12 (Refuse Storage and Disposal), 28-23 (Planting Areas) and 28-43 (Location of Accessory Parking) shall apply.

(d)        In R6 through R10 Districts, and in the equivalent Commercial Districts listed in Sections 34-111 and 34-112, for developments and enlargements of community facility buildings containing long-term care facilities or philanthropic or non-profit institutions with sleeping accommodations, or portions of buildings containing such uses, where such buildings utilize the bulk regulations for Quality Housing buildings in Article II, Chapter 3, in R6 through R10 Districts with a letter suffix, or the height and setback regulations for Quality Housing buildings in Article II, Chapter 3, in R6 through R10 Districts without a letter suffix, the Quality Housing Program standards and requirements of this Chapter shall apply, except that the provisions of Section 28-12 shall be optional.

(e)        The provisions of this Chapter shall not apply to dwelling units converted pursuant to Article I, Chapter 5, unless such conversions meet the requirements for residential developments of Article II (Residence District Regulations).

Dwelling unit

For the purposes of applying the provisions of this Chapter to philanthropic or non-profit institutions with sleeping accommodations and to long-term care facilities, the term “dwelling unit” shall include dwelling units and rooming units, as set forth in the New York City Housing Maintenance Code.

Vertical circulation core

A "vertical circulation core" is an elevator core (consisting of one or more elevators) or a central stairwell in a non-elevator building.

The Quality Housing Program consists of four components: building interior, recreation space and planting, safety and security, and parking requirements.

The building interior component sets forth special refuse storage and disposal systems, and encourages laundry facilities and daylight in corridors.

The recreation and planting component establishes minimum space standards for indoor and outdoor recreation space and requires planting of open areas between the front building wall and the street.

The safety and security component encourages fewer dwelling units per corridor.

The parking component screens accessory parking spaces from the public realm.

Each Quality Housing building shall comply with the mandatory requirements of this Chapter.

All developments with nine or more dwelling units, and enlargements, extensions or conversions, that result in nine or more dwelling units, shall provide at least the minimum amount of recreation space as set forth in the table in this Section.

The amount of recreation space required is expressed as a percentage of the total residential floor area or community facility floor area allocated to long-term care facilities or philanthropic or non-profit institutions with sleeping accommodations, as applicable, of the development, enlargement, extension or conversion, and may be aggregated in one type, indoors or outdoors.

The floor space of indoor recreation space provided in accordance with the standards set forth in Section 28-22 (Standards for Recreation Space), not exceeding the amount required in the table, shall be excluded from the definition of floor area.

(a)        All recreation space shall be accessible to the residents of the building. In a mixed use building, the recreation space shall be accessible only from the residential portion of the building, or the community facility portion of a building allocated to long-term care facilities or philanthropic or non-profit institutions with sleeping accommodations, as applicable.

(b)        The minimum dimension of any recreation space shall be 15 feet. The minimum size of any outdoor recreation space shall be 225 square feet, and the minimum size of any indoor recreation space shall be 300 square feet.

(c)        Outdoor recreation space shall be open to the sky except that building projections, not to exceed seven feet in depth, may cover up to 10 percent of the outdoor recreation space, provided that the lowest level of the projection is at least 10 feet above the level of the outdoor recreation space.

(d)        Any indoor recreation room located in a story shall have at least one exterior wall with windows, or ceiling with skylights, that measures not less than 9.5 percent of the total floor space of the room. Where windows are provided to meet such requirement, they shall face a street, yard or court that meets the applicable regulations set forth in Article II, Chapter 3. Where skylights are provided to meet such requirement, they shall be located in a yard or court that meets the applicable regulations set forth in Article II, Chapter 3 and shall be unobstructed from their lowest level to the sky, except for permitted obstructions set forth in Section 23-87 (Permitted Obstructions in Courts).

The area of the zoning lot between the street line and all street walls of the building and their prolongations shall be planted at ground level, or in raised planting beds that are permanently affixed to the ground, except that such plantings shall not be required at the entrances to and exits from the building, within driveways accessing off-street parking spaces located within, to the side, or rear of such building, or between non-residential uses, other than philanthropic or non-profit institutions with sleeping accommodations and long-term care facilities, and the street line. No zoning lot shall be altered in any way that will either create a new non-compliance or increase the degree of non-compliance with the provisions of this Section.

All open accessory off-street group parking facilities shall be screened from dwelling units, adjacent zoning lots and streets in accordance with paragraph (a) of Section 25-66.

Off-site accessory parking spaces may be unenclosed, provided that the zoning lot on which such spaces are located does not contain a residential use.

On-site accessory off-street parking shall not be permitted between the street line and the street wall of a building or its prolongation.

However, on through lots measuring less than 180 feet in depth from street to street, accessory off-street parking may be located between the street line and any street wall located beyond 50 feet of such street line.