Angel, left, and Olivia Merlos are pictured with kids Jordan and Dakota at SVdP’s First Place Family Center in July 2025.
Olivia and Angel Merlos, like so many served by SVdP’s First Place Family Center and Night Shelter Annex, needed someplace safe to regroup with their kids and take the steps to go from homeless to housed.
Recently, after several months staying temporarily in the Annex dormitory and working with an SVdP case manager there, the young family successfully moved on to their own two-bedroom rental in a Eugene triplex.
“I’ve been on and off homeless for the last decade, so I’m excited to get my kids stable for once,” says Olivia, the mother of Jordan, 5, and Dakota, 4.
“I definitely was raised and grew up in poverty,” she continues. “We did low-income housing, lived off of state benefits and the government — which there’s nothing wrong with it when it’s needed. Obviously I’ve had to do that too, to just get by … but it will be nice to finally break that cycle because this is not a low-income house we’re moving into. Obviously we’ll be living paycheck to paycheck, but we’ll be just the same as everyone else.”
Angel and Olivia knew each other for a decade, before starting a relationship almost a year ago and sharing a single
bedroom at his mom’s home for a time with the two kids. “It was a little cramped in there,” Angel admits.
After both also overcoming years of compounding struggles including addiction — he’s now 10 years sober, and she 2 ½ years — the pair “got to that point where we were just ready to be stable again,” Olivia says.
They married in a ceremony at Tugman Park during their time at the Annex, and worked diligently with their case manager, Atticus, to complete everything required to secure the new rental where they moved on Aug. 1.
“We’d even go and just hang out and do paperwork in his office,” Angel says with a laugh. “Whoever needs it, I would absolutely recommend that they try out this program and do their best … and don’t be afraid to ask questions. They’re very helpful.”
Olivia admits the path to stability “has been long and tiring, but it’s been super helpful having the resources we need literally here in our palm.
“I reach out to everyone I know who may need it” and tell them about First Place, she says … “and not to just take
advantage of a free place to stay, but to actually work with your case manager, get all your ducks in a row, and do it. It’s worth it; it’s so much better to be stable than not stable.”