Homeless encampments, regulations for backyard apartments and incentives for housing developers were hot topics during a debate this week between two candidates battling for a San Diego City Council seat. District 9 incumbent Sean Elo-Rivera and challenger Terry Hoskins also took opposing stances on public participation at council meetings and other issues during a one-hour Wednesday night debate at Hoover High School. District 9 includes City Heights, the College Area, Kensington, Talmadge, Rolando, Stockton, Mount Hope, El Cerrito, Mountain View and a slice of eastern Mission Valley. Hoskins said residents in those neighborhoods are fed up with San Diego for having among the loosest regulations in the state for backyard apartments, often called granny flats or accessory dwelling units. He was particularly critical of a bonus ADU program that seeks to spur housing construction by allowing multiple backyard apartments on the same site if a property owner meets certain conditions. “This has contributed very little to affordable housing,” he said. “And it has divided communities.” Elo-Rivera said he supports more extensive analysis of how San Diego’s rules are impacting neighborhoods but stressed that ADUs are a crucial part of the city’s strategy for solving the affordable housing crisis. “I understand that some of the changes that come with the addition of those homes pose challenges,” he said. “But we needed more homes, and we are producing more homes.” The candidates also debated the city’s year-old ban on homeless encampments, which was approved by the City Council despite a “no” vote from Elo-Rivera. Hoskins criticized Elo-Rivera for that no vote but also said he opposes criminalizing homelessness. Hoskins said he would prefer the city “nudge” people in encampments out instead of forcefully removing them. Elo-Rivera said San Diego should focus more on preventing homelessness because it is preventable, contending that the vast majority of people who fall into homelessness do so because of a sudden financial crisis. Elo-Rivera said that stance is part of the reason he opposed the encampment ban. “Pushing folks around is not a solution,” he said. Another contentious issue was incentives for housing developers, particularly city policies that encourage high-density housing along transit corridors and that waive fees from developers the city could use for parks and other amenities. Elo-Rivera said waiving developer impact fees can be a crucial way to get developers to build badly needed housing that wouldn’t otherwise make financial sense, particularly with interest rates relatively high. “The waiver of developer impact fees, while difficult to swallow at times, is an important piece of the puzzle,” Elo-Rivera said. Hoskins said the city is bending over backward too often for developers. “We should not be continuing to give breaks to developers,” he said. “Who’s going to pay for the parks? Who’s going to pay for the infrastructure?” Elo-Rivera said city incentives for projects near transit, particularly El Cajon Boulevard and University Avenue in District 9, make sense and will provide much-needed housing in coming years. “It takes time for these things to happen,” he said, explaining that the city must rely on developers to act except in rare cases when the city can buy properties. “The property on these two transit corridors is largely owned by private interests.” Hoskins criticized the incentives, contending the city should search for different solutions that don’t let the rich get richer. “The city has incentivized the wrong people — they have incentivized developers,” Hoskins said. The candidates also debated whether the city should continue to allow public comments at City Council meetings over Zoom or should restrict public comment to in-person speakers. Hoskins criticized Elo-Rivera, who serves as council president, for proposing in July to eliminate virtual comment. “The incumbent wanted to silence voices,” he said. “That’s not the democracy I want.” Elo-Rivera, who backed away from his proposal after public outcry, said the city must weigh efficiency versus allowing as much comment as possible. “Most folks who’ve attended council meetings over the past couple of years will tell you that there’s been some real slowdowns in our ability to get the business done,” he said. In a three-candidate March primary, Elo-Rivera got 52 percent of the vote, and Hoskins got 30 percent.