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

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