Portland City Council unanimously votes to increase settlement payment in displacement lawsuit

The Portland City Council on Thursday voted to increase by millions of dollars a settlement with dozens of Black descendants of families whose Albina district homes were destroyed decades ago in a government urban renewal push.

In a unanimous vote, the 12-member council agreed to pay the plaintiffs in

a 2023 lawsuit

a total of $8.5 million.

That’s a dramatic increase from the $2 million the city of Portland and economic development agency Prosper Portland were poised to pay under a

proposal unveiled but not yet finalized

last week. Each agency was expected to pay $1 million.

The agreement settles the federal lawsuit filed by Black descendants of families who saw their homes destroyed from the 1950s to 1970s.

Now, the city will pay $7.5 million and Prosper will pay $1 million, under an amendment introduced by Councilor Loretta Smith and approved unanimously.

Smith introduced the amendment after councilors broke for an executive session — a private meeting that public officials may hold under an exemption to public meeting laws for discussing litigation — midway through their council meeting.

“I don’t believe it meets the gravity of the moment,” Smith said of the original $2 million. “In my heart, and in my spirit, I am troubled that this agreement does not meet the moment or the standard of justice.”

Among other provisions of the settlement, the city will acknowledge its zoning code, urban renewal policies and lending practices led to systemic discrimination and segregation that hurt Black communities.

The discrimination also excluded residents from owning homes, denying them access to jobs, education and “healthy” neighborhoods, according to the settlement.

Prosper also plans to transfer two properties to the plaintiffs.

Plaintiffs filed a federal civil rights suit against the city, Prosper Portland and Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center in early 2023. It alleged the hospital in North Portland conspired with the city and what was then the Portland Development Commission to destroy the predominantly Black community and displace hundreds of families from their homes and businesses in the central Albina neighborhood under the guise of urban renewal.

Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center had reached a separate settlement with plaintiffs earlier this year.

Maxine Bernstein contributed to this article.

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