Chicago Housing Initiative mayoral debate moderator Maya Dukmasova asks a question Saturday, standing between candidate Toni Preckwinkle, right, and Lori Lightfoot’s empty podium, left. (Photo by Irv Leavitt/for Chronicle Media)

Saturday morning, both candidates for Chicago mayor managed to offend many of the people crowding a South Side church for a debate.

Former Chicago Police Board President Lori Lightfoot got the worst of it, because she wasn’t even there.

Some event organizers were furious that her campaign had called the previous night to beg off in favor of a new commitment. The campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle came, but left after about 20 minutes of answering moderators’ questions, leaving no time for follow-up queries. She said that she, too, had another commitment.

The event at Mount Carmel Baptist Church, 2976 S. Wabash Ave., had been billed as “The Showdown for Chi-town: Who Will Be Chicago’s Affordable Housing Champion?” About 250 people filled the pews.

“This is not the way it was supposed to be,” one of the organizers, Ron Wilson, told the attendees after Preckwinkle left. He said that in addition to one missing candidate, he was peeved that Preckwinkle was able to claim that she had been an affordable housing champion during her 19 years as 4th Ward alderman, but “a lot of us cringed because there was no follow-up to that.”

Wilson, executive director of the Lugenia Burns Hope Center, a South Side leadership group, added

Ron Wilson, one of the organizers of Saturday’s non-debate, said attendees should tell Lori Lightfoot that her cancellation “was not acceptable.” (Photo by Irv Leavitt/for Chronicle Media)

that Lightfoot’s crew had “called 8, 9 o’clock last night. We are not cool with that. She accepted three weeks ago.

“Maybe this is all about (campaign) money coming in, and a lead in the polls. I don’t know.”

One of the event moderators, Maya Dukmasova of the Reader, told the crowd, “The disrespect that was shown for this community by these candidates was disgraceful.”

Though Preckwinkle cut her appearance short, she praised the organizing housing advocates repeatedly.

She and Lightfoot had both appeared Dec. 18 at a non-debate forum by the same umbrella group, the Chicago Housing Initiative, at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Preckwinkle and Lightfoot shared many housing-related stands at that session, with one significant exception. Lightfoot and the other candidates then still in the race called for abolishing the “aldermanic prerogative” that allows aldermen to veto developments requiring zoning changes in their ward. When a moderator said that all the candidates agreed, Preckwinkle didn’t interrupt to disagree. Later, she said she supported keeping the prerogative, a version of which exists on the County Board.

Recently, she said the prerogative should not apply to affordable housing decisions.

At that December event, only six of the total 14 candidates attended on a night that there was another election forum. In the Feb. 26 election, Lightfoot and Preckwinkle finished one-two, qualifying them for April 2 runoff election.

Saturday’s event came on the heels of a marathon week for the two candidates, with five debates in five days.

That schedule didn’t matter to many of those in attendance. Lightfoot’s late cancellation revealed “she isn’t organized. Her people aren’t organized,” South Shore homeowner Sharon Louis said. “It’s a travesty she didn’t show up.”

While she was there, Preckwinkle answered all of the questions asked by Dukmasova and her fellow moderator Alden Loury of WBEZ to the apparent satisfaction of applauding audience members. She backed consideration of rent control, using a higher real estate transfer tax entirely for affordable housing funding, and restoring mental health clinics.

She gave an answer to one question that surprised many of those in attendance. When Dukmasova asked her which aldermen she would appoint to chair the housing and zoning committees, Preckwinkle said she wouldn’t appoint anybody.

She said that she thought that mayors appointing committee heads was wrong as a matter of policy. “I think that’s anti-democratic.

“Legislators should choose their own leaders if they’re going to be an effective legislative body.”