Portland — The Portland Clean Energy Fund committee and city staff on Oct. 30 presented draft amendments to the city’s five‑year Climate Investment Plan that would move $15 million into a multifamily affordable housing program and reduce a separate electric‑vehicle financing line by $15 million.

The presentations, given by Eric Kingstrom, director of the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, and Sam Brasso, PCEF program manager, described the amendment package as largely technical and incremental but said it includes targeted funding shifts the committee believes will speed deployment. “The climate investment plan is a five‑year plan guiding the program’s investments,” Kingstrom said during the work session.

Why it matters: The committee told council that Strategic Program 1 — clean energy measures for regulated multifamily affordable housing — is fully subscribed, has met or exceeded its original goals and can absorb more funding quickly. Faith Graham, a PCEF committee member, said reallocating $15 million “would support approximately 580 additional affordable housing homes” that are ready to move forward, and that the money helps avoid value‑engineering cuts that would remove above‑code energy upgrades.

What’s proposed: The draft amendment set out four categories of adjustments — funding, goal adjustments and scope refinements, technical corrections, and alignment with prior council budget actions. The committee’s principal funding recommendation was to add $15 million to Strategic Program 1 (multifamily affordable housing) and to reduce Strategic Program 13 (commercial EV financing and ride‑hail vehicle financing) from $35 million to $20 million. Staff said the EV financing program has not launched because of staffing capacity and shifts in the EV market.

Staff stressed these remain draft recommendations and that the public comment period for the amendment closes Nov. 5. James Valdez, PCEF strategic partnerships and policy manager, said the subcommittee focused on programs with performance data and implementation traction when forming its proposals.

Scope and monitoring: The amendment package includes several goal and scope refinements across strategic programs, including revised outcome metrics for PBOT’s equitable clean transportation access program, more granular goals and suballocations for Bureau of Environmental Services green stormwater programs, and explicit milestone goals for the Portland Hydroelectric relicensing process with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Next steps: PCEF staff will collect public comments through Nov. 5. The PCEF committee will review comments and finalize its recommendation in mid‑December; staff expect to engage with council on the proposed amendments between December and January ahead of formal council action.

Provenance: Presentation and committee recommendations appear in the work session presentation and committee remarks (topic intro at block_593.13; topic finish at block_2857.71).