What the free air conditioner program in Portland, Oregon offers
A household searching for a free air conditioner in Portland, Oregon in 2026 found a real benefit called Cooling Portland, but one that has already stopped taking new applications. The City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability runs it, paid for by the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund, a city fund. As read this month, the page for the program states plainly that it is no longer accepting applications for cooling units and keeps a waitlist instead.
Who actually runs it, and why Multnomah County got the credit
News coverage of the June 2026 heat wave called this a Multnomah County program, since the county pointed residents toward it. Multnomah County declared a heat emergency that month and told residents to call 311, the local government help line, to check eligibility for a free air conditioning unit by June 30, 2026. But a direct read of the page the City of Portland publishes for the program shows the county does not run it. Chris Voss, director of the Office of Emergency Management for Multnomah County, described how far that outreach went.
I think last week we reached out to like 750 different building managers in the county.
Chris Voss, Director of the Office of Emergency Management for Multnomah County. Source 1.
How the goal grew from 15,000 to 25,000 units
Cooling Portland began distributing units in May or June 2022, aiming to give away up to 15,000 portable heat pump and cooling units within 5 years to income eligible households. Reaching that goal early led the city council to add 10.3 million dollars from the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund in December 2024, raising the target to 25,000 units and setting a goal of 10,000 more households by the end of 2026. Jaimes Valdez, strategic partnerships and policy manager for the fund, said the program reached its original milestone ahead of schedule.
We're really excited that the program has been successful in meeting those goals ahead of time, and we reached a little over 15,000 units a few weeks ago.
Jaimes Valdez, Strategic partnerships and policy manager, Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund. Source 4.
These figures describe the plan before a December 2024 funding expansion raised the goal to 25,000 units.
Show the numbers
| Target for 2024 alone | 4,000 |
| Reached by end of 2024 | 11,000 |
| Original 5 year goal | 15,000 |
Who qualifies, and how many units it has installed
A household qualifies for a free unit only if its income sits at or below 60% of the area median income, the income point where half of the households in the region earn more and half earn less, adjusted for how many people live in the home. The program also gives priority to a household with a member 60 years old or older, a member with a medical condition made worse by heat, or a person living alone. By June 2025, the program had installed more than 15,770 units toward its new 25,000 unit goal. Valdez described who the added units are meant to reach.
And this program can fill that gap and fill that need for some people who are income eligible.
Jaimes Valdez, Strategic partnerships and policy manager, Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund. Source 4.
The installed count is dated to June 2025, the most recent this site found. No source among the 5 gives a more recent total.
Show the numbers
| Units toward the goal | 15,770 installed toward a 25,000 unit goal |
What a Portland household can do now
Cooling Portland is closed today. Its own page states it is no longer accepting new applications and instead keeps a waitlist for households that still want a unit. Multnomah County still offers other heat relief on short notice. During the June 2026 heat wave it opened 2 daytime cooling centers, at the Multnomah County East Building in Gresham and Bud Clark Commons in Portland, plus extended hours at 4 libraries, resources separate from the closed air conditioner program. The program itself was created after the 2021 heat dome, when nearly 100 people died of heat related stress across the state.