Back to Journal
Local Living

In Their Own Words: What Comox Valley Candidates Have Said About Housing

By Jeff Nield

Comox Valley 2026 Municipal Election series

For this post, I went through the public record. I didn’t interview or survey the candidates. Everything below is what the 48 people on this fall’s municipal and regional ballots have said about housing in material anyone can read or watch: their campaign announcements in the Comox Valley Record, the Record’s October 3 questionnaire for Courtenay’s mayoral candidates, a seven-question survey run by Decafnation, a four-question food security survey from the Comox Valley Food Policy Council and LUSH Valley, The Discourse’s reader-question survey on growth published October 8, the written answers 22 candidates filed after the Comox Valley Social Planning Society’s all-candidates event on September 22, the recording of the September 27 Comox candidates’ forum at Comox United Church, and candidates’ own campaign websites and Facebook posts. Where I quote someone, the words are theirs and the quote links to its source. Where I couldn’t find a housing position in the sources I reviewed, I say so.

A few notes. Quotes from the Comox forum come from YouTube’s automatically generated captions, lightly cleaned up for punctuation; links to the recording jump to the moment each candidate spoke, so you can check the wording. Several candidates also keep their own websites and social pages. If a candidate you care about comes up thin below, those are the next places to look before you vote on October 17. And if you spot something that needs correcting or clarifying, tell me in the comments on my Facebook post for this piece and I’ll update it.

In this post

Faster approvals

The most widely shared housing idea on the ballot is speeding up the municipality’s own paperwork. In Courtenay alone, at least a dozen candidates raised it.

Dick Clancy wants to “reduce development approval times by mandating a 90 day turnaround.” Kitty Pitt would bring staff and applicants together “to identify the specific steps causing delays, then set target turnaround times,” she told Decafnation. In the food security survey she was more direct: “Council’s real lever is housing and infrastructure. I’ll keep pushing to speed up permitting … because supply is what brings costs down.” Thomas McDevitt “supports reducing unnecessary delays in the building-permit process to help get more homes built.” Mayoral candidate Trish McPhail wants to “review the zoning and rezoning and permitting process to be more timely and streamlined,” and her platform promises “predictable approvals” so “quality projects don’t stall.” Phil Adams lists “allowing more housing, making permitting more efficient” among the tools Courtenay “actually controls.” Incumbents David Frisch and Wendy Morin both describe streamlining development as work already under way (Frisch lists “encouraging higher density development and less red tape” among the ways he has tried to reduce poverty), and Mayor Bob Wells would “reactivate the developers working group with elected officials, staff and members of the development community to identify challenges and work on solutions.”

Manno Theos makes it one of the seven pillars of his mayoral platform, posted on Facebook: “Establish a 90 [day] DP Process, ensuring consistency and saving City staff time,” DP being a development permit. Dave Mellin, on his campaign site, admires “Langford’s ability to reduce or effectively manage red tape” and writes that “the widening housing affordability gap demands changing our past ways.” Kelly Matthews proposes a “simple to follow 20 step online process” so homeowners can get a permit for a suite or second home on their own lot, writing on his housing page that “the current system is geared towards developers and contractors and very difficult for the average person to navigate.” Benny Benvenuti, in a platform post on Facebook, lists “moving housing permits along” among his priorities.

In Comox, Jonathan Kerr pitches the new regional Housing Authority partly as a way to “work with local builders to decrease red tape.” At the September 27 Comox forum, Jenn Meilleur said the town “should make straightforward development applications quick and predictable.” Chris Haslett credited the town’s recent move to separate zoning from development permits, so builders aren’t spending “hundreds of thousand dollars on geotechnical reports” before they know whether a rezoning will pass. Jessica Wegg asked the room whether anyone had tried to build “a mortgage helper or an in-law suite” (“It is not easy to do”) and proposed town-approved plans and prefab designs for backyard units. In rural Area C, Norm McPhail wants “timely, transparent consideration of proposals for supportive housing, treatment centres, and recovery facilities.”

Speeding up approvals is a talking point of candidates who talk mostly about taxes and candidates who talk mostly about affordability, probably because it costs a council little up front and sits squarely within municipal control. It is the closest thing this election has to a shared housing policy.

Prices, paycheques and the missing middle

Comox incumbent Steve Blacklock, a property appraiser, gave the most numbers-heavy housing answer of the campaign at the September 27 forum. He said 195 homes sold in Comox between January and late September of 2006 at a median of $295,000, against 89 single-family sales over the same months this year at a median of $852,000, which he put at an 86 per cent increase after inflation. Over the same span, he said, median household income rose from about $55,000 to $83,000, leaving the median house at 10.27 times local earnings. “Our children cannot afford to live in single family houses given even at a median wage,” he said. “So clearly, we need to add different types of housing.”

Ken Grant, Comox council’s longest-serving member, put the market case simply: “If you get more supply in a market like this, then you will see the prices start to come down.” Jenn Meilleur argued for doing three things at once, “supporting the development of more market housing, creating more genuinely affordable housing, and protecting the affordable housing we already have,” with “missing middle housing” such as townhomes and small multi-unit buildings in areas that are already developed. Jessica Wegg pushed for backyard suites and tiny homes because “there’s more than big apartment building solutions to this problem.” Vivian Chislett described an age-in-place shared house for five people that her family’s architecture firm designed. Chris Haslett raised a different obstacle: construction costs have climbed so far that some approved projects stall when the builder is ready to go, because “they simply can’t afford it anymore,” and more demand is coming as Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Comox expands.

Who pays for growth

Several candidates want new housing to carry more of its own costs, because whatever growth doesn’t pay for ends up on the annual property tax bill of people who already live here. Those bills are climbing. Courtenay council set a 6 per cent increase in its 2026 tax levy, which the city’s finance director said works out to about $370 more for the average home once utilities and other taxing authorities are included. In Comox, Ken Grant told the September 27 forum that “every $120,000 we spend is 1%” on the tax rate, and Neil Ladell said higher Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) costs once the town passes 15,000 residents could add about 10 per cent to household property taxes on their own. New homes need pipes, roads and services. Development charges can recover some of those costs from new development, while the balance can come through municipal revenues, grants, borrowing or existing taxpayers.

Wendy Morin wants to keep “funding growth through DCCs/ACCs,” the development cost charges and amenity cost charges builders pay toward the pipes, roads and parks that new homes need. Evan Jolicoeur has “raised concerns about development charges affecting new home prices,” according to his campaign launch, so the two Courtenay incumbents seem to disagree on development charges. Phil Adams would grow the commercial and industrial tax base so “homeowners and renters do not carry the entire financial burden of community growth.” Trish McPhail’s platform asks that developers “contribute appropriately to the infrastructure costs generated by new development.”

In Cumberland, Kevin Snaden puts the trade plainly: “New development can help, but it brings infrastructure and service obligations. Growth should leave Cumberland stronger.” Zanoni Agnew ties property taxes directly to housing security: “A healthy community is one where all income levels can afford to stay in their homes, and aren’t priced out, in part due to exploding property taxes.” Thomas McDevitt makes a similar point about renters in Courtenay, arguing a tax increase on landlords “ultimately will get passed on to tenants.”

Up, not out

Among incumbents in all three towns, the most consistent position is that new homes should go inside existing boundaries. Bob Wells says he will “continue to champion densification which utilizes existing water and sewer infrastructure which is cheaper than the urban sprawl we had before.” He also says Courtenay “finally has a vacancy rate over four per cent,” though The Discourse notes the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s October 2025 figure was 3.6 per cent; either number is a long way from the 0.6 per cent of 2022 I wrote about in The Room Down the Hall. On his campaign site, Wells points to downtown and the Fitzgerald Corridor for new housing, with “human-scale development and Courtenay’s small-town character.” Wendy Morin wants to keep “managing growth within our boundaries” and supports “gentle infill/densification at the city/rural boundaries.” In Comox, Jenn Meilleur would focus “much of our growth within already developed areas, providing more housing and transportation choices while protecting rural lands and high-value ecosystems,” and her platform calls for limiting “any further greenfield development.” Kelly Matthews makes the case for what he calls “gentle density”: suites, laneway homes, multiplexes and townhomes that add homes “while avoiding massive infrastructure instalments and the environmental costs of suburban sprawl.” David Frisch was “first elected in 2014 with the goal of curbing urban sprawl.” In Cumberland, Nick Ward points to the village’s “Urban Containment Boundary to limit sprawl,” Troy Therrien writes on his campaign site that “sprawl is expensive to maintain and single family housing prices are out of reach for many,” and Mayor Vickey Brown says “density allows for more greenspace,” with an eye on “the carrying capacity of our wild places.”

Some challengers push further. John Dacombe says he “will vote against further municipal boundary extensions being advocated by some candidates,” and wants the Regional Growth Strategy “retained, with municipal boundaries not extended.” On his campaign site he argues that sprawl leaves taxpayers maintaining roads, sewers and water lines “in perpetuity,” and cites $25 million in the city’s capital plan to extend sewers to low-density parts of south Courtenay brought inside city limits over the last 20 years, a figure I have not checked. “Courtenay has a massive footprint of undeveloped land already inside municipal boundaries,” he writes. His answer is densification on lots that already have services, from small-scale multi-unit housing to apartments on empty urban sites. He also says “renters subsidize single family homeowners by $1.7M per year (2025) for potable water usage,” a figure I have not verified, and wants faster water metering to correct it.

Rosanna Chamberlin says “exurban sprawl that reduces our local farmland must be stopped,” and supports “more affordable and diverse housing, since lower housing costs leave families with more money for food.” Vasil Beaton says, “I don’t believe residents should have to choose between affordable housing and environmental responsibility.”

Kevin Snaden adds a caution: “I’d rather see Cumberland grow within its existing urban containment boundary than keep expanding outward, but we’ve learned that ‘build up, not out’ doesn’t mean the infrastructure is free.” Much of the village’s water, sewer and stormwater system “was built for a smaller village,” he says, and “approving more homes without planning for those costs eventually catches up with taxpayers.” Meilleur makes the same point: new development should “contribute fairly to the infrastructure it requires.”

Water as a limit

The Comox Valley is back under Stage 3 water restrictions as of October 8. The first move to Stage 3 came in June, earlier than it ever had before, and a handful of candidates now talk about water as something that should shape where and how fast the Valley grows.

Kitty Pitt, who also wants faster permits, says drought resilience has to factor into “how we manage growth and permitting, since more development means more demand on a limited water supply.” Rosanna Chamberlin wants “future growth and infrastructure decisions [to] reflect the reality of our water supply.” In Comox, Jenn Meilleur would “plan infrastructure and growth around future water availability.” Arzeena Hamir, in Area B, would “stop enabling new housing in flood plains, or in areas surrounded by forest … where there is only one way in or out.” David Frisch says Courtenay is already “preventing development in flood plains and when necessary, requiring resilient design.”

These statements came in answer to drought and climate questions, so they read as early signals more than housing platforms. They do suggest the next round of growth debates will include water supply alongside height and density.

Land, and the Housing Authority

The most concrete housing tool candidates name is land: municipal land, and the new Comox Valley Housing Authority, which the Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) created in December 2025 to buy land and fund early design work for non-market rental projects. (I wrote about how it is funded in The Housing Authority and Your Property Tax Bill.)

Supporters cluster around it. Bob Wells wants to “leverage the newly formed Housing Authority at the CVRD to help create more non-market housing options.” Wendy Morin says the chance to work with it is one of her reasons for running. David Frisch, who has backed co-operative housing since 2018, “hopes to continue the push for a regional housing function.” Evan Jolicoeur would put City land, funding and partnerships behind the Authority’s work. In an October Facebook post and on his campaign site, he adds inclusionary zoning and density bonusing to that list: “Approving more housing is important, but supply alone isn’t enough.” Trish McPhail’s platform would “leverage city-owned land, supportive/non-market housing partnerships, and shelter capacity.” In Area B, Arzeena Hamir has “high hopes for the Housing Authority to find and purchase land to enable truly-affordable housing to be built,” and calls “the high price of rent” the root cause of food insecurity. Kelly Matthews, Lisa Bourgeois and Jenn Meilleur all mention using public land or non-profit partnerships for below-market homes.

In Comox, according to two incumbents, the current council’s majority voted this term to withdraw the town from the regional housing service. Jonathan Kerr, who sits on the Authority’s inaugural board, says he “disagreed with the majority of Council that voted to withdraw Comox” and “would propose that Comox re-enters the regional Affordable Housing service.” Jenn Meilleur says she “opposed leaving the regional housing service” and wants to rejoin it. Kerr pegs the region’s biggest gap at “3,200 below-market rental housing units” and says average one-bedroom rents have gone “from $750 to $1600 a month” over ten years. At the Comox forum he named re-entering “the regional affordable housing service and the homelessness service” as his first goal for the term.

The two sides of that vote also disagree about whether Comox has land to work with. At the forum, Ken Grant said “municipal land, we don’t have any. We just sold our last piece to Habitat for Humanity.” Meilleur said the town has “completed an inventory of town-owned land” and that next term she wants “at least one of those sites moving forward toward permanently affordable housing.” Her platform also proposes tools “that allow the community to share in the increased land value created through additional development rights.” Both statements could be partly true, if the inventory Meilleur describes includes parcels the town holds for other uses, such as roads, parks or works yards, rather than vacant land it could sell or lease. From the public record, though, I can’t tell which it is, and it changes what a Comox council could realistically promise on affordable housing.

A few Comox candidates go further than land. Kerr and challenger Neil Ladell both want affordable units required as a condition of larger rezonings; Ladell says “Comox is falling behind on affordable housing” and wants “measurable affordable housing targets.” At the forum he said he believes “maybe 100 or less” affordable units have been built in Comox in the last four years, and that of 801 units tied to the federal Housing Accelerator Fund, only 11 were designated affordable; he wants rezonings to set aside 10 to 20 per cent, as some other B.C. municipalities require. I have not verified his figures. Kerr would also “develop a tenant-protection bylaw.” Lisa Bourgeois mentions “policies that help protect tenants” as a municipal lever, and at the forum said she would review development charges “so that growth pays for the fair share,” paired with targeted incentives for purpose-built rental.

In Comox, the Mariner apartment building faced a 10-storey redevelopment application that council voted down, and Vivian Chislett expects it and the nearby “cabins” property to come back after the election. At the Mariner, she said, “there’s at least 30 people that will be unhoused in our community because they don’t have enough money to pay the rents,” and she wants a tenant protection bylaw first. Ken Grant said both developers have been told they must find somewhere for displaced tenants to go, and that town staff are working on a policy to put that into effect. Meilleur also supports “a strong tenant protection and relocation bylaw.”

How tall, and who gets asked first

In Comox, housing talk keeps circling back to the Official Community Plan (OCP) adopted in February by a narrow vote, which I covered in How Big, How Tall, How Fast, and to the six-storey heights it allows downtown.

Jonathan Kerr called it “an official community plan, not an official developer plan” at the time, and says now he “vehemently disagreed” with it because “Comox residents overwhelming told Council that they did not want 6 stories downtown.” Jenn Meilleur, who also voted against it, says she supports “gentle growth and thoughtfully placed density” and has concerns about “human-scale design, transitions, neighbourhood planning.” Mayor Nicole Minions, acclaimed for a second term, said during the February debate that “for the balanced growth that we are being asked to do by the province, we didn’t need to go to this level of density.” Incumbent Steve Blacklock counts the new OCP among the council decisions he is proudest of. Ken Grant, whose campaign site promises to “meet provincial housing needs while respecting our neighbourhoods,” described a newer practice in which council turned down three recent proposals “right off the hop,” without taking them to the neighbourhood, because “they didn’t fit within the neighbourhood characteristics.” He also doubts the town has room for the homes the province will expect: “by the time December comes we’ll probably have to have 4,000 new housing units in our plan. And I’m really not sure how that’s going to work because we’re at our boundaries today.”

The challengers focus less on the heights than on how the decisions were made. Vivian Chislett, who reminded the forum the OCP passed four to three, says “many residents I spoke with didn’t understand the extent of what was being proposed until quite late in the process,” and would have used “3D modelling, so people could actually see what proposed height and density could mean on their street.” Lisa Bourgeois supports adding housing but wants “earlier neighbourhood engagement,” adding: “Growth is necessary. The question is how and where it occurs, and whether infrastructure and services keep pace.” Neil Ladell says the province’s Bill 44 “took away a considerable amount of local governments’ powers” to shape projects and hear from neighbours. Jessica Wegg names the Aspen Road and Lazo projects, saying “decisions were made without truly listening to the concerns of the people who will be most affected.”

Faster approvals and earlier, fuller consultation sometimes come from the same candidate. Kitty Pitt wants target turnaround times on permits and a public vote on major land-use decisions. The two can coexist (earlier engagement at the planning stage can make individual approvals quicker), but they compete for the same staff time and the same calendar, and few candidates say how they would balance them.

After the shelter

Homelessness runs through the Courtenay statements more than anywhere else, and one idea recurs among candidates who otherwise disagree: housing for people coming out of treatment.

Bob Wells wants to advocate for “more shelter space, treatment beds and places for people to stay after their treatment,” including local complex-care facilities. Thomas McDevitt calls the Braidwood supportive housing and shelter project “a good start,” but says it “is at best only going to be able to accommodate half of the population that needs the resources it provides,” and argues for second-stage housing because “sending someone back to the environment where they existed in active addiction is a recipe for disaster.” Manno Theos says society has made it too easy to live on the street and wants the province to expand psychiatric beds, addiction recovery and detox capacity. Kelly Matthews, raised by a single mother in supportive housing, wants “creative, long-term housing solutions that support all residents while easing the operational and safety burdens on downtown business owners.” Evan Jolicoeur, a registered nurse, itemized the city’s record in an October Facebook post: 70 supportive homes and a roughly 73-bed shelter under construction at Braidwood Road, 67 supportive units on Cliffe Avenue, the 33-bed Connect Centre, and an 18-bed winter shelter on Cumberland Road that he says logged 1,983 bed occupancies last season. “I don’t think we should have to choose between compassion and safety,” he said at his campaign launch. Darin Tufts and Kam Singhania both list homelessness and its effect on the downtown among their concerns.

Candidates also disagree on how Braidwood should run. Dave Mellin’s campaign site says the current BC Housing approach “is inappropriate for Braidwood. A ‘dry’ centre should be mandatory if we expect a successful outcome in this particular location.” After the October 1 Chamber forum, Manno Theos wrote on Facebook that the candidates he calls “change leaning” had expressed “a desire to change the status of the Braidwood wet, low barrier shelter/supportive living to a Dry holistic wellness, recovery facility.” His own platform lists homelessness as one of seven pillars: “Addressing the causes with a strategy to break the cycle of homelessness.” Jessie Lightburn’s campaign page commits to “exploring supported sober-housing approaches used elsewhere in BC.” Benny Benvenuti goes furthest: in a platform post on Facebook he says council should “ask BC Housing to make it a substance-free, recovery-oriented place for people who want to stay on that path, similar to the change recently announced for a project in Nanaimo,” and that he would work with BC Housing and local service providers “to see if we can make that happen.” In Comox, Ken Grant said leaving people “just on the street is just not the right way to do it” and wants a recovery facility, “even if it’s something on the North Island.” BC Housing bought the Braidwood site and funds the project, so a council that wanted a different operating model would be negotiating with the province rather than deciding it.

Kitty Pitt objects to how the Braidwood decision was made, and says “this isn’t opposition to addressing homelessness, it’s about process,” adding that she would “push for major land-use decisions to go through a proper vote.” For background on the site, which BC Housing bought in 2024, see 218 Neighbours.

Out past the town limits

The regional district races carry their own version of the housing argument, and it is mostly about where housing should not go.

In Area C, Ariel Becherer says “we need affordable housing in urban areas,” but that “housing developments in area C are about asset speculation, and they strain existing water, sewage, and road infrastructure.” She is not accepting donations from developers. Gillian Anderson wants to see “the rural vibe of the Comox Valley conserved through sustainable and sensitive growth,” while also suggesting the regional district “look at zoning potential for low-income housing needs.” Norm McPhail takes the most specific approach in the rural races: he would review regional district zoning “to identify where safe secondary suites and farm worker housing could be allowed,” and says the current “complaint-driven bylaw enforcement system can unintentionally pit neighbours against one another over alternative housing.”

In Area A, acclaimed director Daniel Arbour plans to work with the local member of the Legislative Assembly and the new Housing Authority to help Denman Island’s long-running housing project “find the funding it needs,” after a similar project opened on Hornby this term.

Cumberland

Cumberland’s candidates talk about housing in terms of what the village has become. Mayor Vickey Brown, acclaimed, says the pandemic brought “huge growth and huge increases in housing costs.” Kevin Snaden remembers “when Cumberland was somewhere people could afford to get started.” Incumbents Sean Sullivan and Nick Ward both put affordable or attainable housing in their top three objectives. Troy Therrien says getting an affordable housing project built is “a big priority and an even bigger need,” and describes his “audacious dream” as “a civic block with affordable housing”, which he expects will take longer than one term but work needs to start now.

The clearest test case in Cumberland is Lot A on Ulverston Avenue, a vacant property whose owner applied to rezone it in late 2023. According to the Village’s development page, the current plan is a four-storey building with commercial space on the ground floor and 60 rental apartments above, plus 26 townhouses and 32 units in eight fourplexes, with more than 30 per cent of the site dedicated as park around a creek, a wetland and mature Douglas firs, and a trail through to Carlisle Lane. Because the proposal fits the Official Community Plan, provincial law does not allow a public hearing on the rezoning. It came back to council for third reading on September 28.

Therrien wrote about it on his campaign site in a post dated September 28. He writes that the online debate has “narrowly focussed” on whether Cumberland should grow at all: “Cumberland is growing, like it [or] not. The question is how the demand for living in Cumberland is going to change the village and in what way.” He argues the apartments would house “the many service workers in Cumberland who cannot afford to live in the village,” that the townhomes “will hopefully be more affordable for first time home buyers,” and that the developer has covenanted to protect the stream and large trees. “I don’t want the village to become something only the rich can afford,” he writes.

Kevin Snaden raised a different question on his Cumberland Matters Facebook page before the vote. Across the street are long-established industrial and service businesses, with the village’s wastewater treatment plant behind them, on what he calls “still largely a dusty gravel industrial road” (Ulverston would be paved as part of the development). He asks how the village would “protect new residents from noise, dust and truck traffic, while also making sure existing industrial businesses are not gradually constrained by complaints from residential development that arrived later.” He also notes that a Habitat for Humanity fourplex in earlier versions of the plan has been replaced by a covenant securing four below-market rental units for 20 years, at rents 10 per cent below the regional average.

Disclosure: I am the listing agent for Lot A on Ulverston Avenue. I’ve included it because two Cumberland candidates have written about the proposal at length, and I’ve kept the description above to the Village’s information and the candidates’ own public statements.

Where I came up empty

For a number of candidates I could not find a public statement on housing at all: in Comox, Ruby Sidhu, who along with Maureen Swift missed the September 27 forum; in Cumberland, Ellian Bell; and in Area B, incumbent director Rich Hardy. Several of them have spoken at the recorded forums or on their own sites, and the gap may simply be in what is written down. Others talk about housing mostly in general terms. Erik Eriksson writes on his campaign site that “while we are advancing the issue of affordable housing, we need to advance the issue of economic development”; Neil Borecky says “connecting housing to greenspace and active transportation networks is critical”; Jin Lin names the “high cost of living and housing” as a driver of food insecurity; Davina Singh says “many people are feeling house poor” and is the most specific of the group: she supports pushing density “in growth nodes (which is in line with the OCP)” and “more permissive styles of housing.”

What the record suggests

Taken together, the statements suggest candidates see a handful of places a council can push on housing: how fast it says yes, whether new homes go up or out, who pays for the services they need, what it does with land it controls, and what it asks of developers in return for rezoning. Almost no one claims a council can bring down market prices on its own, and several, from Ariel Becherer to Neil Ladell, say outright that the bigger levers sit in Victoria and Ottawa.

Candidates differ mostly in emphasis. Some are running mainly to slow spending and keep taxes down, and treat housing as something that happens once approvals are quicker. Others are running mainly on non-market housing, and treat the Housing Authority and public land as the main event. Most of the Valley’s voters will get a mix of both on their council, whatever they mark on the ballot.

Across the statements I found, most candidates want to make housing easier to build, and many also want neighbours weighing in sooner. The next council will learn quickly how hard it is to do both.

Quick reference: each candidate’s housing statements on the public record

As found in the sources below, up to October 13, 2026. “None found” means I could not find a written public statement on housing in the sources reviewed.

Courtenay, mayor

Candidate On the record
Bob Wells (incumbent) Densification over sprawl; leverage the CVRD Housing Authority for non-market housing; restart a developers working group; another housing symposium; more shelter space, treatment beds and post-treatment housing
Trish McPhail Faster, simpler zoning, rezoning and permitting; city-owned land and non-market partnerships; developers pay their “fair share” of infrastructure
Manno Theos Platform pillars include a 90-day development permit process and a strategy to “break the cycle of homelessness”; says street living has been made too easy; wants more provincial psychiatric, detox and recovery capacity

Courtenay, council (six seats)

Candidate On the record
Phil Adams Allow more housing and faster permitting; grow the commercial tax base so homeowners and renters don’t carry growth alone
Vasil Beaton Plan before development so infrastructure keeps up; affordable housing and environmental protection together
Benny Benvenuti Move housing permits along; ask BC Housing to make Braidwood substance-free and recovery-oriented
Rosanna Chamberlin More affordable and diverse housing; stop exurban sprawl onto farmland; growth decisions should reflect water supply
Dick Clancy Mandate a 90-day turnaround on development approvals
John Dacombe Land use is council’s strongest power; walkable, non-market housing downtown; against further boundary extensions; keep the Regional Growth Strategy
Erik Eriksson Affordable housing alongside economic development; regional sewage plan
David Frisch (incumbent) Streamline approvals for new homes; higher density and less red tape; co-op housing and a regional housing function
Evan Jolicoeur (incumbent) City land and Housing Authority for below-market housing; concerned development charges raise new home prices; inclusionary zoning and density bonusing; itemizes supportive housing and shelter record
Jessie Lightburn Explore supported sober-housing models used elsewhere in B.C.
Jin Lin Names high housing costs as a driver of food insecurity; no housing policy found
Kelly Matthews Gentle density over sprawl; simple online permits for homeowner suites; affordable units in new developments
Thomas McDevitt Cut building-permit delays; second-stage housing after treatment; halt property tax increases
Dave Mellin Cut red tape on the Langford model; affordability is “not the city’s to solve alone”; Braidwood should be a “dry” centre
Wendy Morin (incumbent) Work with the Housing Authority on below-market units; streamline development; fund growth through DCCs/ACCs; gentle infill within city boundaries
Kitty Pitt Faster permits with target turnaround times; “supply is what brings costs down”; factor water supply into growth; wants major land-use decisions put to a public vote
Davina Singh Density in OCP growth nodes; more permissive housing types; says many residents feel “house poor”
Kam Singhania Lists homelessness and “responsible development” as concerns; no specifics found
Darin Tufts Homelessness and its effect on the downtown; tax relief for seniors

Comox (Mayor Nicole Minions acclaimed; six council seats)

Candidate On the record
Steve Blacklock (incumbent) Proud of the new OCP; says Comox’s median house is now 10.27 times household income and “we need to add different types of housing”
Lisa Bourgeois Add housing while weighing infrastructure, traffic and character; growth pays its share, with incentives for purpose-built rental; tenant protections
Vivian Chislett Housing types for seniors, renting young adults, workers and military; tenant protection bylaw for Mariner residents; 3D modelling and earlier input on height
Ken Grant (incumbent) Meet provincial housing needs while respecting neighbourhoods; more supply will bring prices down; says the town has no land left; rejected projects that didn’t fit neighbourhoods; unsure where 4,000 more units go
Chris Haslett (incumbent) Separate zoning from development permits; construction costs are stalling approved projects
Jonathan Kerr (incumbent) Voted against the OCP; rejoin the regional housing service; required affordable units in large projects; tenant-protection bylaw
Neil Ladell 10 to 20 per cent affordable on rezonings; measurable targets; says Bill 44 cut local control
Jenn Meilleur (incumbent) Voted against the OCP; gentle density; rejoin the regional housing service; Town land for permanently affordable homes; growth within developed areas; development pays its fair share of infrastructure
Ruby Sidhu None found
Maureen Swift (incumbent) Promote housing options and industrial land in northeast Comox
Jessica Wegg Pre-approved plans and prefab designs for backyard suites; objects to how the Aspen Road and Lazo projects were handled

Cumberland (Mayor Vickey Brown acclaimed, says “density allows for more greenspace”; four council seats)

Candidate On the record
Zanoni Agnew Property taxes are pricing people out of their homes
Ellian Bell None found
Neil Borecky (incumbent) Connect housing to green space and active transportation
Kevin Snaden Grow within the urban containment boundary, with infrastructure costs planned up front; raises industrial-interface questions on Lot A
Sean Sullivan (incumbent) Affordable housing among his top three objectives
Troy Therrien (incumbent) An affordable housing project is a top priority; civic block with affordable housing on Union Road property; supports the Lot A rental and townhouse proposal
Nick Ward (incumbent) Attainable housing for all income levels; urban containment boundary to limit sprawl

Comox Valley Regional District

Candidate On the record
Daniel Arbour (Area A, acclaimed) Work with the province and Housing Authority to fund Denman’s housing project
Rich Hardy (Area B, incumbent) None found
Arzeena Hamir (Area B) Housing Authority buys land and partners with BC Housing and non-profits; no new housing in flood plains or one-access forest areas
Gillian Anderson (Area C) Lobby senior governments; look at zoning for low-income housing; conserve rural character
Ariel Becherer (Area C) Affordable housing belongs in urban areas; rural development is “asset speculation”; no developer donations
Norm McPhail (Area C) Review zoning for secondary suites and farm-worker housing; ease complaint-driven enforcement

Sources

2026 municipal election affordable housing Braidwood candidates Comox comox valley Courtenay Cumberland CVRD housing
Keep Reading

More Articles

Get in Touch

Have Questions About the Comox Valley?

Whether you're relocating, investing, or just exploring — I'm happy to share what I know about the local market.

Call 250-509-0035
JN
Jeff Nield
Engel & Völkers - Vancouver Island
Jeff Nield Real Estate

Downsizer Equity Calculator

Whether you're looking to unlock equity, reduce expenses, or trade complexity for ease - enter your numbers below to see the full picture.

Current Home
$
$
$
$
Desired New Home
$
$
$
$
$
Commissions, legal fees, inspection & other costs
$
BC: 1% on first $200K - 2% on balance - auto-calculated
Your Downsizing Snapshot
Estimated Financial Outcomes
Equity Unlocked
$0
Total Annual Savings
$0
Monthly Cash Freed Up
$0
Annual savings breakdown
Maintenance savings$0
Property tax savings$0
Strata fees (new home)$0
Total annual savings$0
Ready to explore your options?Complimentary, no-obligation market appraisal for Comox Valley homeowners.
Book Free Appraisal

Estimates for illustrative purposes only. Consult a qualified advisor before making real estate decisions.
© 2026 Jeff Nield - Engel & Völkers Vancouver Island North