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Vernon council candidate Stephanie Hendy says she has three lenses through which she will view all matters if elected.

Those are: accessibility, the environment, and health.

"I'm not going to make a lot of big promises," she says.

Hendy says she wants to take Vernon residents "from surviving to thriving."

She is a kinesiologist, clinical exercise physiologist, and rehab consultant.

On accessibility, she says there should be washrooms on the Grey Canal Trail and that facilities at the proposed new Active Living Centre should be trans-inclusive.

On the environment, she would push to ban cosmetic pesticides, and regarding health, she said: "all decisions should be made through a health lens."

"Everything related to improving the local economy relates to improving housing," says Hendy.

"When there is enough housing supply for low and middle-income earners to rent and buy, less people stay in abusive relationships, we have space to attract more skilled workers, we have housing for people seeking to live, work, and play in the same city."

She would like to see a regional housing advocacy resource to manage a regional rent bank and manage an inventory of municipal, regional, public, and non-profit lands available for housing.

"Crime is a response to a lack of personal needs being met, whether that’s inaccessible housing, inaccessible mental health support, and lack of social support, she adds.