How do disabled people find housing? Long Branch fair aims for answers to many questions

LONG BRANCH - When Amanda Chirelli of Little Egg Harbor first started working at MOCEANS Center for Independent Living in 2020, one of her duties was to call apartment buildings to find housing for people with disabilities.

“Alongside transportation, (housing is) really a big issue for people with disabilities,” Chirelli said.

She knows how big it is, and is currently placing herself on lists for supervised apartments and group homes. Born with cerebral palsy in the 1980s, Chirelli uses a wheelchair and has been living with her parents her whole life. But she fears a predicament in which her parents can no longer take care of her and she has not figured out where she would live next.

“First of all, you have to get on a waiting list for any kind of housing,” Chirelli said. “Most of those waiting lists are 10-years-plus. So, that’s why (people are) even telling me that, ‘We know that your parents are OK right now, but please put yourself on a list.’”

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Scenarios like that is what drives MOCEANS Center for Independent Living to host its annual Spring into Action Disability Fair from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 4 in the parking lot behind Brookdale Community College between Third Avenue and Broadway in Long Branch. Disability organizations ranging from housing to recreation will be there to field questions. And people with disabilities can network and learn from each other about the services out there.

The fair will also include lawn games, arts and crafts, raffles, a DJ, food from Nip N Truck and ice cream.

Emily Crosby, MOCEANS’ director of education and advocacy, said disabilities is a broad category that includes people who were born with a disability as well as seniors and veterans.

“Naturally, the likelihood of acquiring a disability the longer you live is extremely high,” Crosby said.

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She said MOCEANS “also helps in the transition not only for youth to adult life, but adult life to aging,” which could include planning ways to live independently as a senior or other housing options.

Many of the vendors at the fair are organizations that the organization has referred people to and have a good standing in the local disability community, Crosby said.

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They include organizations that can help with special needs trusts or conservatorships, employment, senior services, day programs, surfing for people with visual impairments, schools for people with hearing impairments, college programs, political advocacy groups and other organizations.

“We kind of wanted to take the wraparound approach,” Crosby said. “So, even if it wasn’t a disability services agency specifically, it was something that could benefit the disability community.”

Crosby said MOCEANS, which has its own services and social activities year-round, places an emphasis on the experiences of people with disabilities.

“Like ‘Hey, this (service) actually didn’t work out for me.’” Crosby said as an example. She emphasized that people should do research into the services they’re interested in and listen to people with disabilities.

Crosby said last year about 300 people attended the event. In the case of rain, MOCEANS will announce a change in venue on their Facebook page at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 3 so that people using Access Link mass transit for people with disabilities can change their reservation ahead of the 24-hour requirement. The rain venue will be the Buckey James Community Center in Long Branch.

“I think having MOCEANS being able to sponsor events like this is so crucially important,” Chirelli said. “Not only are we getting services that we might be eligible for, we’re also networking and meeting other people and I think that that’s truly so important.”

Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at oliu@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Long Branch disability fair aims to help with housing, other issues