Responding to a Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) letter criticizing their planned move into PBH, the co-chairs of House and Neighborhood Development (HAND) said yesterday their organization needs a permanent, central headquarters.

HAND's response came one day after the outgoing officers of Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) released a letter condemning Assistant Dean of Public Service Judith H. Kidd for supporting the move.

"HAND needs permanent space in a central location...equally accessible to all students in all houses," the HAND statement said. "This space would allow House HAND programs to share resources and communicate ideas effectively and efficiently."

It continued, "The identity of the HAND program is fundamentally House-based...volunteers will continue to make this association regardless of the location of the central HAND office."

According to Nathalie E. Goodkin '99-'00, co-chair of HAND, the statement was not a direct response to the letter from the outgoing PBHA officers.

"I don't see that there is any animosity between the two groups at all," she said.

She declined to comment on the relationship between the officers of HAND and PBHA.

Both Roy E. Bahat '98, current president of PBHA, and Michael W. Ma '98, vice president, said the letter reflected a conflict between PBHA and the Harvard administration, not between PBHA and HAND.

Kidd and Theda Skocpol, chair of the Joint Committee on Public Service, said HAND is scheduled to move into the third floor of PBH when the religion department vacates it in May.

"We're moving forward with our plans," Kidd said. "We have a planning committee made up of students and staff that will allocate all the space in PBH, including HAND."

But Bahat said he is unaware that HAND is scheduled to move in.

He added that if HAND moves into PBH, students and members of the community will confuse the two organizations.

"Many students have already asked me whether HAND is a PBHA program," he said. "Community members would be in constant confusion. People in the community have already begun confusing PBHA and HAND. This can only make it worse."

According to Bahat, the leaders of both HAND and PBHA opposed the move when it was originally proposed.

Kidd said she believes having HAND in PBH next year will serve all the purposes outlined in the HAND statement.

According to Bahat, the third floor of PBH was the property of PBHA when it was leased to the Religion Department in 1985.

He said he finds it hard to believe HAND cannot find a central location other than PBH.

"In a university as large as Harvard, the fact that they haven't been able to find a central location other than PBH just means that they haven't looked," he said. "We're talking about two rooms."

But Skocpol said she believes PBHA has no right to complain about the allocation of the space because it was never used by the organization in the first place.

"I have been astounded at some of the things that the leaders of PBHA have said about the granting of an office to HAND," she said. "I find them shocking and selfish."

Skocpol called the PBHA officers' concern that members of the community will confuse the two organizations "condescending."

"It assumes people in the community can't get it straight about what person to call," she said. "There has been no evidence of actual problems.