Debra Carlton

2020 was a rough year for rental property owners, but they had no greater ally than the California Apartment Association. As its Executive Vice President, Debra Carlton was always on the front lines making the case for landlords who faced unpaid rents, rising vacancies, and unreasonable eviction restrictions.

A lot has gone wrong for landlords in the past year,  but if anything went right, Debra Carlton probably had an imprint in it. She was widely quoted in various media outlets as the definitive voice for landlords.

Carlton argued that lawmakers did not do enough to help owners and operators keep their properties running, not to mention paying property taxes and mortgage expenses.

Listen to her give her takes in a recent radio program »

Prop 21 went down in defeat, solid leaders empathetic to the hardships of property owners were elected to the statehouse, and an ill-conceived COVID-19 measure that would be catastrophic to landlords failed, as did a bill limiting security deposits. Housing supply bills, on the other hand, won passage.

Throughout the pandemic, CAA was committed to telling a counter-narrative that was often drowned out in the media but heard by many sober minds. Debra Carlton and CEO Thomas Bannon were the chief ambassadors. 

While the first reflex of lawmakers was to protect renters, Carlton was always quick to point out that landlords have hardships of their own and that a reasonable compromise should be reached so that both tenants and landlords can come out ahead on the other side of COVID.