The Regional Sustainability Core Service comprises the Comox Valley Regional Growth Strategy (RGS) Service, the Regional Parks and Trails Service, the Comox Valley Tourism Service, the Homelessness and Supports Service, and the Comox Valley Housing Service. These services provide a framework for regional collaboration and community partnerships to advance economic, social, and ecological sustainability.
Work within the RGS service is guided by the RGS bylaw and is intended to promote human settlement that is socially, economically, and environmentally healthy and makes efficient use of public facilities and services, land, and other resources. service The RGS bylaw includes eight goals related to: housing, ecosystems, natural areas and parks, local economic development, transportation, infrastructure, food systems, public health and safety, and climate change. The RGS service provides broad opportunity for data collection, monitoring and reporting to support regional district, municipal, and senior government decision-making and public awareness and education.
The Regional Parks and Trails Service plays a critical role in protecting regionally significant landscapes, conserving natural areas, and providing opportunities for people to connect with nature. In 2026, a key priority for advancing this work is the development of a land acquisition strategy that identifies and recommends regionally significant lands for acquisition.
With housing affordability and homelessness being persistent and growing challenges, the Homelessness Support Service and Comox Valley Housing Service serve as the vehicles for direct action by the Regional District to address homelessness and create more affordable housing. Working in partnership with community organizations, these services respectively:
- Provide funding and support to local community-based organizations that deliver services, projects and initiatives aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness; and
- Support the creation and operation of the Comox Valley Housing Authority, a new Regional District-owned housing corporation focused on increasing the supply of non-market rental housing.