Patrick Manning has resigned as executive director of the Island Affordable Housing Fund effective Sept. 1, abruptly ending a stint of less than three years at the nonprofit.

The former politician made the announcement in a joint statement with the fund Wednesday, saying that family commitments require him to move back to New York state.

Mr. Manning spent more than a decade as a New York assemblyman and abandoned a campaign for governor of New York shortly before taking the job at the fund in January of 2007.

He said yesterday that he plans to move full-time to his house in the Hudson Valley, to which he has been commuting on weekends; he also will keep his home in Edgartown.

And he told the Gazette he plans to stick to fund-raising for nonprofits rather than move back into politics.

“I’ll probably take a few weekends to look at it and put a shingle out to do some consulting. It would be good to have the freedom to come here whenever I want,” he said.

Mr. Manning said he is moving to be with his son who is entering his senior year in high school this fall. He said the change occurred late last month in the midst of an annual fund-raiser, and he informed the board of directors soon afterwards.

Fund-raising increased sharply during Mr. Manning’s tenure with the introduction of the telethon event Housing on the Tube. Last year the fund claimed $1 million raised in the event; this year it took in just over $650,000 in gifts and pledges.

Mr. Manning said the fund has raised $4.5 million, including private contributions and money collected from the Community Preservation Act, since he joined.

The fund formed in 2000 and according to Mr. Manning went through a period of educating the Vineyard community about the importance of affordable housing prior to his arrival.

“By the time I arrived it was, how do we raise money quick enough to deal with the issues at hand?” he said.

Mr. Manning said he worked well as a team with Phillipe Jordi, director of the Island Housing Trust, and David Vigneault, executive director of the Dukes County Housing Authority. The housing trust and fund are affiliated organizations with common board members.

Mr. Manning called theirs an all-around success story. “People call us from around the country to ask how did you do what you did,” he said. “I’ve never seen a group work so well together.”

Fund copresident Robert Wheeler said yesterday that the job search for Mr. Manning’s replacement is national and already under way. He said the salary for the new position is negotiable and no job description has been finalized. Mr. Manning earned $100,000 in 2008.

“We raise the money and the nonprofits we’re involved with spend it,” Mr. Wheeler said, adding: “The job is managing a fund-raising organization and the maintenance of relationships with the nonprofits we’re involved with.”

Mr. Wheeler added that the board of directors is very involved in the fund-raising process and will be able to pick up the slack until a replacement is found.

“They can get out there and make the asks,” he said.

At the top of the asking agenda is the Bradley Square project at the site of the old Denniston church on Masonic avenue in Oak Bluffs. The project will include eight units in three buildings with affordable apartments, work space for artists, office space for the NAACP and a community center. Work is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2010 on the project; a ground-breaking ceremony is set for August 28.

According to Mr. Manning the current budget for the project is $5.2 million (neither Mr. Manning nor Mr. Jordi were able to provide a copy of the business plan for the project yesterday). Around $300,000 has been raised so far in private donations. The building was acquired for $905,000 two years ago. The project developers are carrying a $700,000 mortgage with the Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank on the property. Mr. Manning said the fund needs to raise another $1.3 million for its contribution to the project. He said the multimillion dollar price tag will accrue back to the town and Island.

“I take pride in bringing one of the largest fund infusions of cash to the local economy,” he said, adding: “I have no doubt you’ll see local dollars. It would be hypocritical not to hire local tradesmen.”

Mr. Jordi said a request for proposals for architectural and engineering plans has been extended to August 21.

Three buildings will be named at the ceremony after prominent Vineyard citizens, Mr. Manning said.

“It’s a nice swan song,” he said.

A single affordable housing project has been completed during his time at the fund: Jenney Way, a nine-home development in Edgartown designed and built by the South Mountain Company, which was more than four years in development.

Mr. Manning said the fund is partly underwriting four more projects across the Island, including Bradley Square, which are in various stages of development.

A project at 250 State road in West Tisbury will be finished in the spring and a project on Lambert’s Cove Road in Vineyard Haven is scheduled to begin this fall. Another project is slated for Lake street in Vineyard Haven.

The lion’s share of money raised by the fund goes to its sister organization, the development agency Island Affordable Housing Trust, Mr. Manning said. And the majority of the money goes straight to projects, he added.

“The administration part of the trust is small — it’s money in, money out,” he said.

The fund has relied heavily on CPA money. CPA money is a discretionary tax that goes into a fund; use of the money is voted on at town meetings for open space, affordable housing and historic preservation projects. In the past the tax fund has been matched by the state by up to 100 per cent, although with the downturn in the economy that has changed.

Under Mr. Manning the fund has been allotted more than $1 million in CPA money, a fact which Mr. Manning finds squares with the tax fighting politics he held as a Republican party assemblyman in New York.

He said he was invited to the White House as one of the country’s top 100 tax fighters during his time as assemblyman.

“My constituents viewed taxation as a necessary evil. So the trains run on time — as long as it’s actually doing something. The Community Preservation Act is a perfect example of the way a tax should be: all six towns vote and the state pitches in. It’s totally in line with a tax cut mentality,” he said, concluding:

“Affordable housing transcends politics anyway. I’ve worked with libertarian, conservative and liberal Democrats. Everybody needs to be housed. On the issue of protecting our people, everyone can agree.”