Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA) author of HEMAP a Pennsylvania foreclosure avoidance program releases the following statement:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "For eight years, I have been actively pursuing legislation on behalf of America's unemployed to help stave off foreclosure. Now, thanks to the Administration, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank and Committee members Representatives Maxine Waters and Paul Kanjorski more of the nation's unemployed will be getting help. The critical funds, totaling $5.1 billion, will assist jobless Americans around the country with their mortgages.

"The Administration provided $2.1 billion to five of the nation's hardest hit states earlier this year to help homeowners stay in their homes. Treasury's recent $2 billion increase extends these funds to 17 states and the District of Columbia. The total $4.1 billion will be directed to states most affected by declining home prices and high unemployment.

"These additional funds will be coupled with the $1 billion from the Emergency Homeowners Relief Fund, a provision that I authored and was included in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Mortgage assistance funds will be administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Without doubt, President Obama is committed to making sure that those facing foreclosure have a fighting chance to save their home.

"This $5.1 billion will go a long way to help some of our most vulnerable citizens. I will continue to work with my colleagues and this Administration to make certain that the American dream of homeownership isn't turned into a nightmare from which threatened homeowners will never awaken."

Congressman Fattah is a senior Member on the House Appropriations Committee and architect of the Emergency Homeowners Relief Fund, which is patterned after Pennsylvania's highly successful Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP) he designed and guided to passage as a young state legislator in 1983.

SOURCE Office of Congressman Chaka Fattah