The Dukes County Regional Housing Authority executive director David Vigneault will be retiring in March 2026, the organization announced Tuesday.

The organization provides housing services and assistance for residents with low and moderate incomes on the Island. In his 20 years of leadership, Mr. Vigneault worked with state and federal governments to increase the number of rental and home ownership opportunities for Islanders. He also championed partnerships with local housing committees and nonprofit organizations to further address housing needs on the Island.

According to board chair Ann Wallace, Mr. Vigneault’s valuable experience in working in tandem with all the Island towns was vital.

“It’s an incredible combo of his skill and experience of 20 years of handling six towns and all the federal and state guidelines and requirements when we’re dealing with public [funding],” Ms. Wallace said.

Mr. Vigneault moved to the Island in 1987, initially to establish employment and community supports for Islanders with a range of impairments, a statement announcing his retirement said. He served as the West Tisbury representative to the DCRHA Board from 1993 through 2000, and became executive director of DCRHA in 2005.

“We’re very lucky on this Island to have a surplus of very talented people who spend an awful lot of time on the boards and committees, the organizations and the towns,” he said in a phone call with the Gazette. “The Housing Authority’s primary partnership is supporting the town’s development as well as the Island Housing Trust and numerous other organizations.”

Mr. Vigneault cited the evolution of rental assistance on the Island as a significant achievement. When Mr. Vigneault first joined the DCRHA, the funding was private. Now, it is provided through Community Preservation funds.

“Rental assistance is something that our office is very proud of stewarding through a couple of decades of significant changes,” he said.

Another partnership Mr. Vigneault is proud of is with O’Brien Property Management (OBM).

“We’ve put an awful lot of time and investment into improving older properties that we purchased out of foreclosure or in other cases, distressed buildings, and they are uniformly much improved, and a lot of that is the result of work with OBM,” he said.

Mr. Vigneault’s expertise will be missed, Ms. Wallace said.

“He’s incredibly devoted and an exceptional person [who] led a really important effort,” she added. “It’s going to be very hard to replace.”

While Mr. Vigneault is retiring from this position, he emphasized that is not “retiring from work.” He and his wife will be relocating to North Carolina for family reasons.

“I love my work. I have a lot of energy for it,” he said. “It’s demanding in a really good way, and I will miss it very much.”

A search committee has been formed to replace Mr. Vigneault, and the organization hopes to have a new director on board by January.