More and more LGBTQIA+ people are fleeing red states, says Sasha Violet, outreach director and board secretary of Eugene-based Cascades Community Placement Services (CCPS), a newly formed nonprofit dedicated to helping people in need find housing and support.

Oregon, with its strong anti-discrimination laws and robust trans healthcare programs, is often a top choice for people fleeing more restrictive states. Oregon is home to over 280,000 adults who identify as LGBTQIA+. With so many people seeking safer places to live, the need for a service that helps people get on their feet is becoming more important than ever.

“There is already more than what we can service,” Violet says. She adds that CCPS started out of necessity as herself and three friends saw an increased need for a service that is “data conscious.” 

Violet says CCPS collects as little personal information as possible, using encrypted messaging and purging records after a case is marked as completed. She adds that ensuring data security in a time where crackdowns are seemingly on the horizon is important to build trust with clients. She says CCPS strives to be a “very scrappy and nimble nonprofit” whose money goes directly to those who need it.

Since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, the U.S. has seen a sharp increase in anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiment from the federal as well as state governments. In 2026 alone, 63 anti-trans bills have already passed nationwide according to the Anti-Trans Legislation Tracker. 

In 2025, 126 anti-trans bills passed and two Republican U.S. representatives, Nancy Mace and Ronny Jackson, made public calls for transgender people to be involuntarily institutionalized. 

Recently, Idaho state officials told a U.S. District Court Judge that the state could test transgender people’s DNA to enforce a new anti-trans bathroom law passed in March. 

Laws like this, combined with Trump’s “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” executive order and the designation of transgender people as a national security threat, has caused massive numbers of LGBTQIA+ people to flee less accepting states for blue states such as Oregon, Washington, California, Minnesota and others. 

According to a 2025 poll by the Movement Advancement Project and the National Opinion Research Center, 9 percent of respondents said they had moved to a new state since the 2024 presidential election.

Violet says sometimes a client’s situation is so bad that they enter Oregon without housing, mental health support or other necessities set up. “We created CCPS with the notion that America is going to get a lot scarier, that you’re going to see mass migration between U.S. states.” 

For someone seeking support, whether it be a trans person who just entered Oregon, or someone who just found themselves homeless — the first step, Violet says, is to reach out. This can be done through CCPS’s website, by signal, phone or any other messaging service. “We try to move to encrypted communications as soon as we can,” Violet says. Once communications are established, then a caseworker will go speak with the individual to assess exactly what they need.

In some cases, it’s as simple as helping a client pay an $800 in rent to avoid eviction, for others it’s helping them find a housing situation after moving away from an oppressive state. Violet says CCPS coordinates with volunteers who have open living spaces to temporarily house individuals who require a place to stay while they determine where to go after a move. 

“We make sure they’re on OHP [Oregon Health Plan] and SNAP, and we make sure that they have done the things that they need to do,” Violet says. In the nonprofit’s first fiscal year, Violet says they’ve already helped more than 80 people either find housing, food or other resources in the community. “We are saving lives, literally,” she says.

CCPS plans to continue expanding its programs, with Violet now being able to leave her day job as a saleswoman and focus solely on the project. “We’re going full time with this, which is kind of terrifying,” Violet says. “We need all the help we can get.” 

For more information and to find upcoming events and fundraisers for CCPS, visit OrCCPS.org.