Fair Housing Assistance Program Grant-Computer Expert System

Throughout the fiscal year, work continued on the Fair Housing Computer Expert System funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Thomas A. Barta, Professor in the Industrial Engineering Department, Iowa State University, who is project manager, works with an eight-member management team representing the 15 agencies in four states who are participants in the project.

The expert system will enable housing investigators, especially inexperienced ones, to process cases quicker and provide more consistent, complete application of housing laws and regulations. The system will determine probable cause or no probable cause in individual housing discrimination cases based on the facts entered in the system.

Knowledge about six different bases and seven types of complaints is part of the system, as well as a library of pertinent information needed by the investigators. In addition to federal and state statutes and city ordinances, the library will contain court cases from the U.S. Supreme Court, the 8th and 10th Circuit Courts of Appeals, state cases from Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, and the Case Law Matrix by F. W. Caruso.

By the end of the fiscal year, planning had been completed on the software and training was being scheduled for the participating agencies. An extension of time on completion had been requested, moving the date to December 31, 1991.