Steve Gulliford, the executive director of the Housing Authority of Island County, is retiring Dec. 31 after 20 years of service.

His successor will be Teri Anania, who has been with the Housing Authority for six years as the family self-sufficiency program coordinator.

In celebration of Gulliford’s retirement, the Housing Authority will host an open house from 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17 at the Brookhaven Community Building in Langley, and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 30 at the Dean Manor complex in Coupeville.

During his tenure at the Housing Authority, Gulliford was instrumental in acquiring more units of public housing for seniors in Oak Harbor (Golden Oaks), and an additional senior complex (Glenhaven) in Langley. He also applied for and received funding from the Housing Trust fund for islander apartments, a complex that provides supportive housing to the chronically mentally ill in Island County.

One of the most recent and significant highlights of his career with the Housing Authority was the construction of Marjie’s House, a 16-unit complex that serves homeless women and children that may or may not be fleeing domestic violence. Marjie’s House has eight units of transitional housing, six units of emergency housing, with an additional unit for a live-on-site property manager, who is an employee of the Housing Authority, and a unit for CADA’s shelter advocate/manager to use as an office, counseling space, group meetings, with one room for children.

Gulliford remains actively involved with housing issues on the island. He is currently the president of Saratoga Housing, the local community land trust, and he continues to partner with Goosefoot Community Fund to find creative ways to solve the island’s housing issues. He will remain in a consulting role as the Housing Authority attempts to develop a 26-unit family complex in Freeland, as well as filling in as the interim executive director at the Skagit County Housing Authority for the next few months.