Whitlock Proposes Central Agency To Replace Local Housing Listings

A University official yesterday suggested that a central housing agency be created to replace the plethora of Harvard and Cambridge organizations which provide listings of available apartments and boarding houses.

"Considering the number of agencies concerned with housing problems, each exercising different methods of control, it seems that a central registry would have great merit," Charles P. Whitlock, Assistant to the President for Civic Affairs, pointed out.

"The University has never wanted to be in the housing business, but it is necessary for someone to compile housing lists--a service which a central registry could administer efficiently and equitably."

Whitlock added that "the University will cooperate with such an agency in every way." This would presumably include financial support, possibly of an amount equal to that presently being given each year to the Phillips Brooks House listing service.

"Although the proposal is certainly worth exploration, it is too early to commit ourselves definitely," commented Frederic G. Fassett, Jr., Dean of Residence at M.I.T. The Off Campus Housing Bureau, which operates a listing service of available housing for Tech students, will not give up its functions in favor of a central agency until the new group can prove its merit, he explained.

Referring to the possibility that the American Friends Service Committee take over the job of providing a central listing, Mrs. Nancy St. John, community relations secretary of the Cambridge AFSC, said that the committee will tackle the problem only if existing housing agencies request it to.

"I question whether our group is the right organization to do the job," Mrs. St. John commented.