The two men running in Escondido's mayoral race will square off Tuesday night in a debate centered on one of the region's most pressing issues — homelessness.
Incumbent Mayor Dane White and his challenger, nonprofit leader Elias Velazquez, will meet at The Grand Ritz Theater to discuss their visions for Escondido and their approaches to addressing homelessness, recovery and public safety. San Diego Rescue Mission President and CEO Donnie Dee will moderate.
The two candidates represent two common approaches to addressing homelessness.
White, a Republican in the technically nonpartisan race, has served as mayor of Escondido since 2022. He supports "treatment first"-style policies, under which an individual living on the streets must be treated for addiction before being given housing.
"When I first ran for mayor, homelessness was my top priority," White writes on his campaign website. "At that time, I shared my own story of how this issue affected my life. I suffered from addiction and ultimately ended up on the streets, even spending nights behind the 7-Eleven on Country Club/Centre City. Thankfully, I overcame those obstacles and went on to build an incredible life.
"Now, as mayor, I have used those experiences to bring forward policies that help others who are like me. Part of what my experience taught me is that we must offer people a hand up while encouraging accountability and sobriety. Ultimately, if help is not accepted, we cannot continue to enable the individuals on our streets and leave them to suffer on our streets."
He points to the annual count of homeless people living in San Diego County as evidence of the effectiveness of his approach.
In the 2025 and 2026 Regional Task Force on Homelessness "Point-in-Time Counts," the number of unsheltered people in Escondido declined 32.4% — from 401 in 2024 to 307 in 2025 and 271 in 2026. Meanwhile, the number of sheltered individuals rose from 187 in 2024 to 231 in 2025 and 281 in 2026.
Velazquez is an information director and volunteer coordinator at an Oceanside-based nonprofit focused on helping homeless people, seniors and the working poor. He advocates for the "housing first" model of homelessness response.
"Housing policy in Escondido needs to change to meet our current homelessness crisis," his campaign website reads. "By rejecting the `Housing First' model required by the State of California, our city has made itself ineligible for millions of dollars in state and federal funding."
He rejects White's rebranded "Escondido First" model, which leaves the city to shoulder the cost of homelessness alone. Velazquez said the first and best thing a government can do for its citizens, homeless or not, is to treat housing as a fundamental right, "providing permanent, secure housing first alongside tailored support services to address underlying issues like mental health or substance abuse."
Velazquez said the city should do a better job of prioritizing federal HOME and Community Development Block Grant funds for rental assistance programs such as Tenant-Based Rental Assistance to help families stay in their homes before they fall into homelessness.
The candidates will meet for the debate at 7 p.m. at The Grand Ritz Theater, 301 E. Grand Ave.
The San Diego Rescue Mission is a nonprofit that has provided resources, meals and beds for homeless people since 1955.
