The Everett School on Gibbs Avenue could potentially become a center for homeless and near-homeless assistance non-profits after a proposal made to Selectmen at Tuesday night's meeting.

Community Economic and Development Authority Director Sal Pina and Pastor David Shaw of the Emmanuel Church of the Nazarene proposed renovating the school with CEDA grants and turning it over to a group of private non-profits that would be responsible for ongoing costs to keep the building open.

Town Meeting voted in April to give the building over to the Selectmen from the School Department and Selectmen have since been exploring their options with the building.

Pina and Shaw said groups such as Turning Point, a local non-profit that helps the homeless and near-homeless in town, Southcoast Health Systems, South Shore Housing, the Department of Transitional Assistance and the Wareham Unemployment Career Center would be interested.

"One of the things we're finding is that improved communication will help us all be more effective in bringing the services we provide to these people," said Shaw. "Having a these organizations in the same building will really improve communication."

"This is an extension of the consolidations that we often talk about, it's not just within the privates sector or within our own departments it's reaching out to the non-profits," said Town Administrator Derek Sullivan. "It's essentially a cost saving way to bring more of the services we need in this town to our residents."

Town Meeting voted to give Selectmen the building with the authority to sell it if they so choose. At a previous meeting, Sullivan cautioned Selectmen that if they decided to sell the property, the money made from the sale would not go to the Town's general fund. It could only be used for like items such as purchasing other real estate.

Selectman Alan Slavin said he would rather see something put in the building with a long term sustainable life than get money from a one time sale.

Selectman Judith Whiteside asked if there was a figure on the renovation costs and Pina responded that he would be going to the building with a member of CEDA who is an architect to assess the building in the near future.

The Everett Educational Center was built in 1918. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy damaged the building and ripped off part of it's facade. The building has served as a high school, a kindergarten center, an alternative school, and has housed offices in most recent decades.

Selectman Steve Holmes lamented that the town owns a number of buildings in town that have been used by a department "until its a disaster," and then is given to the town only for the department to move to another building.

"The roadblock is usually how do we make this even livable or workable to put programs in the buildings," he said. "I'm hopeful we can find the initial dollars, because it would be fantastic to keep them if they could be put to a good use."