Evidence-led research.Homes neighbors can afford.Streets worth loving.
The Allston Heritage Foundation
Harvard and Brighton Avenues, Allston, at dawn.
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The law that would make room for 14,500 new homes in Allston-Brighton
A zoning petition, a City Council order and a state enabling act: homes allowed by right, no parking minimums, objective design standards and fixed review deadlines.
470,000 new homes would bring Greater Boston’s rents about 9 percent below their current path
What is wrong with Boston’s zoning, how many homes it takes to bring rents down, what that means for Allston-Brighton’s residents, and the reforms that let builders do it.
Traditional design adds about 1 percent to the rent a new building needs
Contractor-anchored costs by building type and façade feature, and why our design standard doesn’t stand in the way of the homes Allston needs.
Allston built beauty for the middle class, and we can do it again
A field guide to what makes Allston’s older buildings work: symmetry, solid bases, rhythm and grand entrances.
A ten-year plan for 14,500 new homes in Allston-Brighton
Most of the homes would go on main streets, large parcels and sites near transit, under clear rules that everyone knows in advance.
Explore the planRigorous research, written for neighbors
We start from data and peer-reviewed economics, state our assumptions, show our math and publish our sources.
Then we translate the findings into plain language and practical proposals that a neighbor, a city councilor or a builder can act on.
How we workTwo programs, one goal: a neighborhood people can afford to love
Zoning & Housing
How many homes Boston and Allston-Brighton need, where they could go, what they cost to build, and the model laws that would let them be built.
Explore zoning & housingArchitecture & Urban Design
What makes Allston’s historic streets beautiful, why many new buildings fall short, and how to bring the old virtues back at middle-class prices.
Explore architectureDrag the slider to see a one-story strip become homes above shops
We used AI image tools to sketch what our proposed design rules would permit on real Allston-Brighton sites. Then we priced them against contractor benchmarks. A simple four-story brick building like this one costs about $370 per square foot to build, within ordinary Boston apartment costs. The brick, deep-set windows and cornice add less than 2 percent.
See all fifteen concepts
TodayAI concept
Rooted here, thinking about all of New England
Allston was built by drovers and streetcar builders, by Irish, Italian, Jewish, Chinese, Brazilian and Korean families, and by generations of students. Each wave inherited something good and left something better.
We want to keep that going. Our work starts here, and its lessons apply to Boston and the whole region.
About the Foundation