For the second time in six months, the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority has been unable to make its payments to landlords involved in its subsidized housing program.

In a statement released late on Thursday, the due day for payment of some $20,000 to the owners of 35 properties, the authority said it had run out of money and could not make its April commitment.

It had begun contacting all landlords and tenants to let them know.

The program is supported by the Island Affordable Housing Fund. It has been operating on a tenuous, month-to-month basis since last November’s shock announcement that the fund could not meet that month’s obligations.

The November payment was met with the help of the Island’s towns. Since then, the housing fund has been scrambling for donations to keep the program going.

The fund was able to make payments through the end of February. But of the roughly $40,000 total owed for March and April, it has come up with just $16,000.

Of that, $10,000 has come from a single source, one of the fund’s board members, Kenneth Karakul. His foundation kicked in $5,000 for the month of march and also put up $5,000 by way of a matching grant, which was to have gone towards April’s payment.

But it wound up also going toward March’s expenses.

“Over two months we’ve done a total of $16,000,” said the executive director of the fund, T. Ewell Hopkins. “That’s $10,000 from Kenn and about $6,000 from other sources.”

The shortfall left the fund, some $24,000 in the hole.

“We’re still in deficit and we’re still looking for ways of making those moneys. But rent was due on the first of the month. And it was the first of the month and the money wasn’t there,” Mr. Hopkins said.

The executive director of the housing authority, David Vigneault, said he would be working through the week to find other ways to make up at least some of the shortfall.

He remained hopeful that further donations — or at least pledges — would flow to the Island Affordable Housing Fund.

He also was talking to bankers this week about the possible extension of an existing line of credit.

“The fund wrote a month or two back a memorandum of understanding, saying they were committed to four months of rental assistance, saying they were committed to seeing the program through June.

“On the extent of that, if they have money come in through a pledge, my board is more than willing to use the line of credit.

“But it has to be something hard.”

He also had received a sympathetic hearing from the Community Preservation Committee in Aquinnah and an offer of some help. How much was not immediately clear.

In the meantime, the affected tenants rely on the good will of their landlords. Mr. Vigneault said his conversations with them so far had been positive.

“These phone calls were tough to do, but people were pretty constructive and generous,” he said.