He's in charge of providing housing for low-income residents, but he's also driving a new Hummer sport utility vehicle. It was paid for with your tax money.

KIRO Team 7 Investigative reporter Chris Halsne digs into the spending habits of some local Housing Authority directors.

Let's start with Vancouver Housing Authority Executive Director Kurt Creager. Many of his section-8 clients don't have enough money for any car, but Creager just expensed a $37,000 H-3. It's not the first time his spending has raised questions about how that office handles your tax money.

Creager isn't shy about showing off his latest work vehicle: a 2006 Hummer bought at a nearby Cadillac dealership.

Creager tells KIRO Team 7 Investigators, "It is a 4-wheel drive truck chaise that serves our purposes. We need a 4-wheel drive vehicle that will seat five people. The other physical requirement includes reasonable gas mileage."

The purchase order reads $36,200 for the new H-3, but Creager's Housing Authority credit card receipts show a few extras added on later: Running boards, window tint, gasoline, carwashes. In all, we found $846.47 in additional car expenses within three weeks of the purchase.

Creager defends the H-3's necessity saying, "A lesson we learned from Hurricane Katrina: you have to be prepared. You hope something doesn't happen, but as a property manager, we have to be prepared."

Cindy Stand and her disabled daughter get financial help from the Vancouver Housing Authority. Cindy thinks Creager's H-3 purchase is a foolish waste of money.

(Laughing) "I think if I had a choice, I'd rather put that down as a down payment on a house for all that money you're going to pay for a hummer."

State Auditor Brian Sonntag isn't impressed with H-3 deal, either.

"Well, my first thought is 'Why?' I mean, how to you justify that kind of public expenditure when we've already identified a financial situation that is questionable at best."

The Vancouver Housing Authority received a scathing audit late last year. It basically says the agency is spending four times the money it should, bringing in $7 million in rents, federal, and state money, then spending $29 million.

The audit highlights include:

low ranking financial performance

negative financial trends

investing in projects outside its legal boundaries

"The red flags are there. That's why our auditors have been pointing this out," says Sontag.

Creager says the auditor might not understand how his private/public housing joint ventures really work.

"We're in positive cash flow. I'd say we're healthier than General Motors and Ford Motors combined. Frankly, the issue has to do with accounting rules."

Trying to find some comparisons, KIRO Team 7 Investigators contacted the Seattle, Tacoma, and Everett Housing Authorities.

What have taxpayers bought for them to drive at work? The answer is simple. Nothing.

For example, Everett's chief, Bud Alkire, doesn't even have a car allowance.

Alkire tells KIRO Team 7 Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne, “We have about 35 employees in the office and a carpool of six vehicles. We all share. If someone needs a car, they grab one of the cars in the carpool.”

The most modern member of the fleet is eight years old, and the Everett Housing Authority bought it used.

Back in Vancouver, while the new H-3 sits in the Housing Authority director's parking spot, this 1989 Dodge Caravan sits in Cindy Stand's driveway. She says the van, donated to her by a charity, is what she can afford. She'd like Kurt Creager to take note.

"You'd probably see more things that needed to be fixed around here if you were on foot or a bike. That would be the best want to check this place out."

The Vancouver Housing Authority says it's executive director also drives the new H-3 for personal use, but per law, keeps track of that and pays taxes on it as a benefit.

The state auditor tells KIRO Team 7 Investigators he will be soon heading back to Vancouver, looking into travel and vehicle expenses from that housing agency.