MEMPHIS -- Rickey Tillman had never protested anything before.
But Monday, Tillman, 51, took off work, climbed into a van with about 15 other Little Rock residents and rode to Memphis to rally for tenant rights at the annual convention of the Arkansas Realtors Association.
The conditions in his one-bedroom apartment in southwest Little Rock prompted his decision to join the protest, he said. He said he has to deal with mold, rats and roaches, and the laundry facility doesn't have hot water.
But his landlord won't fix the problems, he said.
Several Memphis residents joined the group from Little Rock to protest the Realtor group's opposition to an implied warranty of habitability law that would set minimum standards for rental housing in the state. Arkansas is the only state in the country without such a law.
"We need to get our renters' rights," Tillman said. "If we don't get out and speak for ourselves, no one else will."
The Realtors Association promotes professionalism among its members through education, communications, technology, legal information and services, according to its website. It also gives money to many state and local politicians' campaigns.
Although warranty of habitability legislation has been proposed in Arkansas at least seven times since 2005, it's failed every time. Lawmakers and activists have said recent failures, including the demise of a 2019 bill, occurred because of the association's opposition.
Julie Mullenix, a lobbyist for the association, said in a written statement that the group worked with lawmakers in the past session and agreed on a bill.
Activists said they withdrew their support for the bill because it was too watered-down after compromises made for the association.
"The Arkansas Realtors Association has a long record of positive actions for tenants," the group's statement read. "The Arkansas Realtors Association helped Arkansas become one of the first states to outlaw housing and lending discrimination."
Mullenix added that the association gives tenants free copies of a handbook detailing their rights and how to handle housing problems when they arise.
A handful of protesters tried to take a message into the convention, which was held in the Guest House at Graceland. But an employee stopped them and said he would take the message inside.
Neil Sealy, director of Arkansas Community Organizations and the organizer of Monday's rally, said the message to Realtors is that "they should not be trapping people in places where they could get sick or even die."
Brad Watkins, the executive director of the Midsouth Peace & Justice Center in Memphis, said Arkansas Renters United contacted his group about the protest, so he and a few other members showed up to support the Arkansas renters.
The Memphis-based group works to "engage, organize and mobilize communities to realize social justice through nonviolent action," according to its website.
"As bad as we have it here in Tennessee, Arkansas has even fewer renter protections," Watkins said. He explained that Tennessee's housing quality laws often go unenforced.
As protesters gathered up their signs to head home, one conventiongoer walked past on the sidewalk.
It was Josh Settimio's first time to attend the convention, and he said in an interview that he hadn't heard of the warranty of habitability issue before speaking with an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter.
Settimio of Batesville got his real estate license Friday and said he hoped to get more professional education from the association.
"I actually ended up kind of being the newsboy," he said later Monday. "A lot of people didn't even know there was a protest going on."
He added that, after having the chance to talk with people about the implied warranty of habitability bill, the sense he got was that a law of this type could raise rents. He also said he sees some "vagueness" in the law, and thinks that's where Realtors and landlords should step in and work with the Arkansas Real Estate Commission to ensure people are being treated fairly.
Metro on 09/18/2019