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.

But the executive director of the authority, David Vigneault, said yesterday he remained hopeful of making at least a partial payment within days.

In a press release late last 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 eventually made, but 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 toward 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, Ewell Hopkins. “That’s $10,000 from Ken and about $6,000 from other sources.”

“We’re still in a deficit and we’re still looking for ways of making those monies. 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 on Monday this week.

Yesterday, Mr. Vigneault said he had received a promise of $8,000 from the Aquinnah Community Preservation Committee.

Derrill Bazzy, a member of the town committee, had told him there was $2,000 in unused rental assistance money which could be quickly released. Another $6,000 from the Aquinnah fund — CPA funds applicable to affordable housing — could also be loaned, probably later this month.

“They said, basically, we could give them an IOU for that $6,000,” Mr. Vigneault said.

The understanding is that the money will be repaid when the housing authority and fund are in better financial shape.

Later, Mr. Bazzy said there was no timetable set for repaying the $6,000.

“We don’t need it back right away,” he said. “Whether we get the money back in a month or in three years, it will be just as handy, and in the meanwhile it is doing what it’s meant to do. We see it as a double use. The money is going to do two things in its lifetime.

“I have absolutely no doubt that when the [economic] tide turns people will be supportive of affordable housing again.”

He also had no doubts about the future of the Affordable Housing Fund under Mr. Hopkins, whom he described as “a person of great honor and integrity and wisdom.”

The $8,000 from Aquinnah, Mr. Vigneault said, would allow the regional housing authority to pay landlords about 40 per cent of what they are owed for April.

“Now it’s a matter of how quickly we can do it,” he said. “We are due to hear from the bank today whether we have got an increase in our line of credit, against the promises from Aquinnah.

“Maybe as early as tomorrow or the start of next week at the very least, we should be able to give landlords partial subsidies.

“And I’ve asked the fund to see if they can bring that total up closer to $10,000, so we could make it 50 per cent, half subsidies,” he said.

But late yesterday Mr. Hopkins indicated the fund could not provide the requested $2,000, although he said it might be able to come up with a lesser amount.

Beyond the immediate crisis, the rental assistance program is looking to the round of upcoming town meetings for relief. Warrant articles to go before the various towns propose contributions totaling some $561,000, all from Community Preservation Act money. Mr. Vigneault was hopeful there may be even a little more once Chilmark and Aquinnah finalize their processes.

He conceded it was a big request.

“We’re doubling the requests for CPA money over last year. More than doubling it, in the case of some towns. CPA was doing almost half of the subsidies and now for this year, we need it to do all of them,” he said, adding:

“And some people are asking legitimate questions, about when it’s going to stop.”

He stressed that the intent was for the coming financial year to be a transition year, while the fund and authority got their fiscal house in order after a difficult time.

“It’s a big jump for one year, so that we don’t have to make phone calls like we did over the last week and like we did in November,” Mr. Vigneault said.

Meanwhile the fund, under the direction of Mr. Hopkins, is looking to find new sources of money. Yesterday he said he had this week confirmed a major fund-rasing event to be held on July 24, underwritten by the Edgartown Field Club Foundation.

He also had held preliminary discussions this week with the Island NAACP about raising new funds for the Bradley Square project in Oak Bluffs.

Between now and the end of the fiscal year, though, funding of the rental subsidy program will remain a month-to-month proposition.

But Mr. Vigneault said so far all the tenants remained in their subsidized housing, and his talks to the various landlords had been positive.

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