LA mayor's race: Rep. Bass accuses Caruso of conning voters over his plan to fix homelessness

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rep. Karen Bass Monday called Rick Caruso's homelessness housing plan a "con" that voters should not be fooled by.

The two candidates are in a close race with little more than two weeks left before Election Day.

At a Bass' event where the congresswoman pitched her own plan to build tiny homes for the homeless, Bass made it a point to criticize Caruso's promises to house 30,000 people within the first 300 days of taking office.

"We cannot let Rick Caruso con the voters of Los Angeles on homelessness, just like he changed his party registration three weeks before filing to run for mayor, just like his ads he's running to cover up his lifetime as an anti-choice Republican," Bass said Monday morning.

Bass' plan involves working with the group Urban Awning and local union carpenters to build thousands of tiny homes on city-owned lots.

Her South L.A. event took place on an empty lot where she said she would be able to build 20 homes in just eight months. The plan promises up to 115 one-person to two-person units per acre of land in places throughout the entire city.

"Different neighborhoods could have different solutions, different ideas," she said. "But the point is that the city has to come together."

Caruso held his own event Monday afternoon with Los Angeles city firefighter union members. He lashed out at Bass for accusing him of "conning" voters.

"Shame on her for using that kind of language," he told Eyewitness News. "Let's just be dignified. It's a competitive race. Let's get our message out there and talk about our track record and I'm very proud of mine."

Caruso's homeless plan involves using tiny homes from the company Boxabl that cost about $60,000 each not including land costs.