The David Busby Street Centre needs a new home and it needs assistance in finding one.

It’s time the community stepped up to the plate and provided this agency with stable, long-term support.

Trinity Anglican’s parish hall on Collier Street has been the centre’s longtime home. But as pointed out by Don MacNeil, chair of the board of directors, Busby is under pressure to find a new location.

Trouble is, there’s no money to buy a new home and attempts to find one have not been successful.

The pressure for the centre to move is coming from a couple of fronts.

MacNeil says the centre has simply outgrown the space available at Trinity. The centre now provides a variety of services to about 200 people a day. It assists with housing and poverty issues.

Clients have access to a nurse practitioner, a housing outreach worker, an addictions counsellor, and a youth outreach worker.

It’s a point of contact for services provided by other agencies.

Downtown development has also put pressure on the centre to move. It’s now in the middle of the city’s emerging financial district, close to the new Scotiabank centre and the TD centre still under construction.

Busby meets many of the needs of those who turn to it for assistance. Now it needs a champion, or more than one, to carry its banner in the halls of power and the court of public opinion.

We’d suggest one such champion would be Ward 2 Coun. Jeff Lehman. The centre is in Lehman’s ward, which is the downtown district. It needs to remain there, or close by, because that’s where its clients congregate.

The centre is in obvious need of financial assistance. This could come from a city grant, and/or a fundraising drive to raise money for a permanent location.

Simcoe County also has a role, as it’s responsible for social services. The city provides the county with more than $20 million a year to do this. The city should be lobbying the county for support.

The centre has helped a lot of people in need. It’s time the community responded in kind.