The tax lien sale deadline has been extended by two weeks, giving thousands of New Yorkers more time to take action avoid potential foreclosures on their homes.

On Thursday, the Department of Finance announced the original deadline scheduled for May 20 was pushed back to June 3, giving property owners until June 2 to take action and make a plan of action to take care of outstanding property taxes, water and sewer charges that landed them on the sale list.

Ramon Lopez is on the tax lien sale list for a hefty water bill that he said he has been trying to resolve for years but said he has been stuck in an endless loop with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

"I have been to DEP four times,” he said. "They have you fill out all these forms and everything else then I had to do them again."

The bill is in the thousands after he fell ill and couldn’t work for several years.

Now his Bushwick home of nearly 50 years is in danger of being foreclosed.

"You get panic attack,” Lopez said. “It makes you feel emasculated, truly because I know how to fill out a form."

Officials said many seniors and Black and brown homeowners have ended up on the tax lien sale list after buying their homes decades ago, but due to a rise in the cost of living, illness and hard financial times, have fallen behind on property taxes and water and sewer charges.

"These are the folks that we are losing, we lost 15-20% of our Black population over the last decade,” said Councilmember Sandy Nurse, District 37.

Nurse is on the City Council's tax lien task force which help establish new pathways for property owners to repay debt through an "easy exit" program.

"We've offered more options payment plans, more notifications so instead of getting just one piece of mail your getting two pieces of mail,” she said.

Nurse partnered with the Department of Finance to hold information sessions about the upcoming deadline to make payments and deter being part of the tax lien sale.

Lopez attended one of those sessions and began applying for a repayment program.

According to a DEP spokesperson said Lopez was enrolled in the Water Debt Assistance Program deferring his charges taking his home off lien sale for DEP charges.

In a statement the spokesperson said, “DEP was pleased to help this customer find a viable solution with a positive outcome. We remain committed to connecting New Yorkers with the many financial resources available that can bring their accounts into good standing and help them avoid the lien sale. We thank our partners at the Department of Finance for expanding the City’s outreach efforts, and Council Member Sandy Nurse for hosting this engagement event.”

According to Councilmembers Nurse's office, there were 1,281 property members on the tax lien 90-day notice list in district 37 which includes Bushwick, Brownsville, Cypress Hills, Cityline and East New York.

Through outreach and notification, her office reports the number of people who remain on the list to date is now 769.

The tax lien sale is back for the first time since the pandemic, it's a way for the city to collect debts owed to the city by selling debt to authorized buyers which can result in foreclosures.

To find out if you are on the tax lien sale list, and to learn about repayment plans and exemption programs click here.