Faced with a dire economy, the approaching winter and rising demand for social services, city leaders have asked the Concord School District for permission to use the decommissioned Dewey School as an emergency shelter for families without a warm place to sleep.

The city predicts a spike in the number of families rendered homeless by job loss, foreclosures or rising rents. Others may still have homes but need to sleep elsewhere because they can't afford heat. Many details, such as cost, liability and logistics, remain unclear , but even the suggestion of using Dewey points to what Mayor Jim Bouley calls a crisis.

In recent months, more and more of Bouley's job has revolved around homelessness and related issues. He's heard from social service providers who say the existing emergency shelters are already overwhelmed. Other agencies point to an increase in requests for help with buying groceries, paying bills and finding jobs as indicators of dire financial need.

"We're seeing people we've never seen before," he said. "These are new faces, people who have never sought social services in the past. We're talking families now."

Bouley and other city leaders looked at community centers and other public buildings, but no city-owned property met fire codes. Earlier this month, Bouley asked the school district for help. A preliminary survey showed that Dewey is safe, but a final decision rests with the school board.

"I strongly encourage the school board to give this a hard look," Bouley said. "The last thing we want is for people to be needlessly cold when we have an open building,"

The district and the city will meet to discuss the idea early Thursday morning.

School board members are open to the idea but say they have many questions. Dewey is heated now, but who would pay for any increase in utilities? What do the neighbors think? Who will staff the shelter? What about liability?

"If it works, it's a great idea," said school board member Marty Honigberg. "The need is there, and if our space can be used it's exactly the kind of thing we should be doing."

Laura Bonk, another member of the board, agreed. It would be hard, she said, to justify a warm, unused building considering the anticipated need.

"I hate having an abandoned building," said Bonk, who lives in the neighborhood near Dewey. "Anything to help people out right now, I'm all for."

Tucked near the new roundabout on Liberty Street, Dewey School has been mostly vacant since 2004, when it was closed due to falling enrollment. Community groups meet there, and the school district uses some rooms for storage. Last year, it housed about 100 students who needed a place to learn for six weeks while hazardous paint was removed from Walker School.

The building is heated enough to keep the pipes from freezing, and it includes a kitchen, multiple bathrooms and a parking lot. It's also a short drive from the two downtown churches that serve as wintertime shelters.

For several years, the First Congregational Church has opened its doors to people without a warm place to sleep. When demand outgrew space, a second shelter was opened at South Congregational Church. Room at the two churches is scarce, and sleeping arrangements are difficult when the staff tries to separate families from single people who have been homeless for years and may be struggling with untreated addictions or mental illnesses.

Other social service providers are similarly overwhelmed. Maggie Fogarty, a homeless advocate with the American Friends Service Committee, hosted a meeting earlier this month to brainstorm solutions. The data that agencies shared, she said, were astounding:

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