Interfaith housing effort looks to move

Nearly 40 years ago, amid tensions over urban renewal, five Allston-Brighton congregations got together to build an affordable housing project at Barry's Corner. Charlesview (above), with 213 units, is still administered by a board appointed by the three surviving religious institutions: St. Anthony Parish, a Catholic church in Allston; Community United Methodist Church in Brighton; and Congregation Kadimah-Toras Moshe, also in Brighton. Now the congregations are working on a proposal to tear down the Charlesview and replace it with 400 units, called Charlesview Residences, in Brighton Mills. It's all part of Harvard's plan to expand its campus into Allston. In the Globe's City Weekly, Andreae Downs reports:

"Through consolidations over the years, the five original congregations have merged into three: St. Anthony's, Community United, and Congregation Kadimah-Toras Moshe. They serve about 1,300 people, or roughly 85 percent of the neighborhood. But some things haven't changed over the years. 'What's amazing is how the five different congregations are still in lockstep,' Fiorentino said. 'The causes we champion are the same; the ways we go about that are the same.'"

(Photo of existing Charlesview development by George Rizer, Globe staff.)