As a member of Pennsylvania's state House Fattah wrote and passed into law Pennsylvania's Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP). HEMAP is a loan program designed to protect Pennsylvanians who, through no fault of their own, are financially unable to make their mortgage payments and are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure. Started in 1983 by Pennsylvania's Act 91 of 1983, it was only one of its kind until 2010 when Fattah added language to the Dodd Frank bill to provide similar assistance, to homeowners nationwide. The Emergency Homeowners Loan Program provides up to 24 months of assistance, through bridge loans, for distressed homeowners and is a scaled-up version of the HEMAP program.