City Hall has come up with a new way to help elderly homeowners who have fallen far behind in paying real estate taxes that have overwhelmed their fixed-income budgets.

The city’s chief administrator, Lincoln Saunders, announced Tuesday that such homeowners can now qualify for the city’s tax relief program for the elderly and totally disabled that can sharply reduce or eliminates the amount of property taxes due.

He said delinquent taxpayers were previously excluded from the program, but added that the City Attorney’s Office said that no law requires the city to maintain that barrier.

The move is aimed at reducing the public uproar over a change in policy that has the city threatening to sell occupied residences to collect delinquent taxes.

Previously, the city’s policy was to ignore tax delinquency on homes that owners lived in.

Mr. Saunders said the change resulted from an audit report that questioned why homeowners who were delinquent were being treated differently from other property owners who were in arrears.

In late July, the city for the first time sent notices to 21 homeowners who were two years or more in arrears on their tax bills. The notices informed the residents that their homes could be sold if they did not make arrangements to pay the past due amount.

As yet, no auctions have been scheduled and none would be until next year, Mr. Saunders said, if that became necessary.

Mr. Saunders said the city’s goal is to work with the delinquent homeowners to create plans to repay the tax debt. Allowing those who qualify to gain tax relief would be a new tool to help accomplish that goal, he said.