ESCONDIDO — Hundreds of residents listened as Mayor Dane White and challenger Elias Velazquez explained how they plan to tackle homelessness if elected this November during a candidate forum earlier this month.
Organized by the San Diego Rescue Mission, a nonprofit organization that provides services and addiction treatment to homeless individuals throughout the county, the Sept. 1 event at The Grand Ritz Theater was one of the first opportunities for residents to watch the two opponents face off.
Donnie Dee, president and chief executive officer of the Rescue Mission, moderated the event.
Both candidates have personal and professional experience with homelessness, Dee told the audience.
Born and raised in Escondido, Velazquez currently works as information director for Brother Benno’s, a nonprofit organization that serves homeless people in Oceanside. Velazquez also previously interned with the city of Escondido and served as an aide to former Mayor Paul “Mac” McNamara, whom White unseated in the 2022 election.
Part of Velazquez’s work with the city included supporting expanded homeless outreach and behavioral health services, according to his campaign website.
More than a decade before White was elected in 2022 as Escondido’s youngest mayor, he was homeless and living with a severe drug addiction behind the 7-Eleven on Country Club Lane near Centre City Parkway.
During his time as mayor, White has served on the homelessness subcommittee alongside Deputy Mayor Joe Garcia, monitoring the city’s progress in addressing homelessness and making recommendations to the rest of the City Council.
White also championed the city’s encampment ordinance, which a council majority approved in 2024 shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Grants Pass, Oregon’s ban on public camping.
The two candidates were asked about the ordinance’s role in maintaining safe access to city parks, sidewalks and other amenities for all residents, including those who are homeless.
“The other side likes to say the city just wants to arrest all homeless people, but if that’s the case, we’re doing a terrible job,” White said. “What you need is the ability to tell someone you can’t be here.”
White recalled “The Jungle,” a large homeless encampment that was cleared after remaining for years along Escondido Creek between Citracado Parkway and Harmony Grove Road.
“When you look at the Jungle and how it was allowed to fester — the longer you let these things sit, the higher likelihood you have of spreading hepatitis, or allowing things like violence or sexual violence to be perpetrated there.”
Velazquez said he agreed with the ordinance but that it needs better enforcement and wraparound services to help homeless people get off the streets altogether rather than simply moving them along.
“When you drive around, you’re still seeing plenty of tents and camping,” he said. “We could do a better job of cracking down — but on top of that, we have to remember we can’t just arrest away the problem. If we have someone camping at Grape Day Park, and we ask them to leave, it doesn’t mean that issue has now left.”
The two candidates also shared their views on the current state of homelessness and how the city should address it.
Velazquez criticized the city’s resistance to state and federal funding, citing its adoption of a “public safety first” approach to homelessness and its rejection of the state’s “Housing First” approach.
Housing First refers to programs that help homeless people obtain permanent housing without conditions such as sobriety or treatment.
White, meanwhile, said the Housing First approach has worsened homelessness in the state.
“As much as both of us want to solve the problem at large, I think taking this one-size-fits-all approach has virtually hamstrung everybody,” the mayor said.
In response, Velazquez said the city is taking a one-size-fits-all approach through its public safety first policy.
“When you take an approach like public safety first instead of housing first, how are you supposed to help youth homelessness? I agree we need an approach that takes into consideration all of these different backgrounds, but right now, the city of Escondido is not doing that,” Velazquez said.
White said that although he was not pleased with the overall state of homelessness in the city, he believes progress is coming, particularly after voters approved Measure I, a 1-cent sales tax that will be used in part to address homelessness.
Velazquez said the amount the city plans to spend will be “pennies” compared with what it could receive from state and federal governments to address homelessness.
The next candidate forum, sponsored by the Escondido Times-Advocate and the Greater Escondido Chamber of Commerce, will feature candidates for mayor and City Council districts 1 and 2 on Oct. 1 at the California Center for the Arts, 340 N. Escondido Blvd. Doors open at 5 p.m.
