Affordable housing took center stage in West Tisbury this week, when a long-planned project to build an apartment complex next the Manter Field won strong backing from the planning board on one day, and from voters at a special town meeting the next.

Funi Burdick, who heads a national landmark Shaker village in New Hampshire, will take the helm at the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust.

The West Tisbury planning board Monday night approved a nine-unit affordable housing project just east of the town center, setting the stage for an article on tonight’s special town meeting warrant asking voters to spend $900,000 in community preservation funds to support the development.

The Tisbury zoning board of appeals has cleared the way for 20 affordable apartments to be built on State Road in Vineyard Haven.

An ambitious plan to replace the old hardware building in Oak Bluffs with a three-story structure is nearly ready for a vote by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

Six Island residents were settling into new homes this week as the Island Housing Trust celebrated the opening of a new six-unit affordable housing apartment complex in downtown Vineyard Haven.