Jose Navarro BalbuenaCivic Resume • Katy Mayor 2028
"I am a self-educated father, renter, small business owner, tax strategist, systems technical engineer, licensed health insurance agent, and Democratic elections judge." I am running to bring transparency and working-class accountability as Katy Mayor on May 2, 2028 and as Texas Governor in 2026.
We accept zero campaign donations. Print free yard signs and share our platform to power this movement.
Mayoral Centerpiece: Live-Work & Property Rights
From bridging the digital divide at Sam Houston MSTC to fighting for Katy families, I am championing the platform to Conserve Katy's Family Roots: protecting homeowner living conditions, banning corporate land grabs on single-family homes, establishing residential reversion, and legalizing dual-use live-work properties.
Conserving Katy’s Family Roots: Real Families for City Council & Mayor — Ending the commercial zoning trap, banning corporate land grabs on single-family homes, and guaranteeing the inalienable right to decent living conditions.
"I am writing this myself directly to my neighbors across Katy and Texas. I did not hire political consultants or expensive PR firms to spin talking points. This is me talking directly to you.
When residents complain about high-density apartments spreading across Katy, they are pointing at the symptoms of a broken zoning system. City Hall won't tell you the truth: the city will squeeze out a working family in a mobile home or older house long before it ever touches a commercial apartment complex.
Why? Because an apartment complex is legally a commercial enterprise, and commercial zoning has already aggressively encroached on Katy’s established residential neighborhoods. Developers use commercial permits to bulldoze land and stack more high-density rentals. Meanwhile, legacy homeowners who built this town are trapped as 'non-conforming uses.' If you own your land and live in a trailer or older home, City Hall blocks permits to expand, modernize, or swap out an aging trailer for a brand-new home.
Then comes the pitch: neighbors are told, 'As soon as everyone sells their home commercially, it’s fine because commercial sells higher.' People genuinely believe a commercial sale will yield a higher return. But here is the developer game plan in Katy, TX: once your property is trapped in commercial zoning, traditional residential mortgages (FHA, VA, conventional) won’t touch it. Your sale becomes completely gridlocked because everyday families can’t qualify for financing, and commercial buyers stall. And when developers know your sale is gridlocked and won’t qualify for financing, they deliberately wait you out, undercut your price, and offer bottom-dollar liquidation value. You don’t get the higher return you were promised—you get squeezed into taking pennies on the dollar while predatory developers walk away with your family land.
Only local residential families serving on City Council and in the Mayor’s office have the backbone to stop this corporate land grab and conserve our Katy family roots. Businesses don't own Katy—the families living here do. Residential properties should not and will not be for sale to corporations. Enough corporate ownership of family homes. Katy parents and grandparents did not have to compete with corporations for single-family homes; they had the opportunity to buy young in their twenties, unlike the younger generations whose age to buy a home has now been pushed back into their mid-40s and 50s. If this continues, the young families who grew up here will never own a piece of it, and Katy will become a city owned by corporations and inhabited strictly by renters."
— Jose Navarro Balbuena, Candidate for Katy Mayor 2028How Katy's commercial zoning laws strip property rights from long-time residents, engineer financing gridlock, and funnel family homes into developer liquidation:
Commercial zoning aggressively encroaches on residential neighborhoods, and City Hall slaps legacy homes and trailer properties with a "grandfathered non-conforming use" tag. That sounds harmless, but it means you are legally blocked from expanding, making major renovations, or replacing an aging mobile home with a brand-new, modern manufactured or stick-built home. You are locked in place while developers build multi-story commercial projects right next door.
Homeowners are told: "Soon as everyone sells their home commercially, it's fine because commercial sells higher." People naturally believe that selling out commercially will yield a much higher financial return than residential value. Families are lulled into thinking commercial encroachment is a harmless, lucrative exit strategy.
Here is the developer trap: once labeled commercial or non-conforming, traditional residential mortgages (FHA, VA, conventional) will not qualify or finance the property. Ordinary families cannot buy it, and commercial buyers demand steep cash reserves. The sale becomes completely gridlocked. When developers know your sale is gridlocked and won't qualify for financing, they deliberately undercut the price and offer bottom-dollar liquidation value—which is the developer game plan in Katy, TX.
The moment a home is surrendered under developer liquidation, its residential status is permanently extinguished. Under current rules, it can NEVER be lived in as a home again. Absentee corporate developers bulldoze the land or hold it for high-density projects, permanently shrinking the pool of homes available for young Katy families.
"Look at the coffee shop right across from the Katy Police Department on Franz Road. It is the textbook example of this broken system and the developer game plan in Katy. That property was originally structured and built as a family home. It was converted into a commercial coffee shop under the common belief that commercial conversion yields a higher return. When that business moved on, that building could no longer legally shelter a Katy family! Traditional residential mortgages will not qualify or finance the property, locking out everyday families. Today, you see that commercial 'For Sale' sign sitting stagnant on the market because the sale is completely gridlocked. Developers know the sale is gridlocked and won't qualify for financing—so they wait out the owner, undercut the asking price, and seek to grab it at liquidation value. Meanwhile, a perfectly good, sturdy house sits empty while Katy families scramble for affordable housing. That is unacceptable."
Built as a residential home housing local Katy families for generations.
Zoned and repurposed as a commercial coffee shop under the expectation of a higher commercial return.
Business closes. Residential financing is blocked; sale is gridlocked behind a 'For Sale' sign while developers wait to undercut at liquidation value.
Under my Residential Reversion Clause, this structure immediately reclaims residential mortgage qualification and can shelter a Katy family again!
Eliminating squatter fraud for property owners while guaranteeing lawful tenants certified legal standing, emergency repair SLAs (especially AC in Texas heat), and statutory eviction defense.
"I have been a renter at the heels of buying a home for a long time—watching home prices soar just out of reach while landlords cut corners on basic habitability. Right now, landlords have an expedited eviction court process to protect their profits, and squatters exploit paperwork loopholes to victimize both homeowners and legitimate renters.
My Mayoral administration will build a Dual-Purpose Verified Renter & Tenant Repair Registry. For property owners and police, it authenticates lawful leases instantly, giving law enforcement the verified standing needed to remove fraudulent squatters without months of civil litigation. For lawful tenants, it provides official certified legal standing from Day 1, paired with binding 24-to-48-hour emergency repair SLAs—because in a brutal Texas summer, a broken AC isn't a mere inconvenience, it's a life-or-death emergency. If a landlord ignores an emergency repair or retaliates with an eviction, the Registry's timestamped record gives tenants immediate legal standing and eviction assistance."
— Jose Navarro Balbuena, Candidate for Katy Mayor 2028Our municipal registry serves two equally critical civic functions: stopping criminal squatter scams for property owners while providing lawful tenants with certified legal standing, emergency repair SLAs, and eviction defense.
Stops squatter exploits, fraudulent leases, and illegal subleases immediately. Landlords and property managers authenticate legitimate leases in real-time. When trespassers attempt to squat, Katy Police and county deputies verify lawful tenancy in seconds—bypassing months of costly JP civil court delays to remove trespassers.
Lawful tenants receive certified municipal legal standing from Day 1. The registry functions as a binding municipal repair ticketing hub with strict 24-to-48-hour SLAs—guaranteeing immediate fixes for critical life-safety failures, especially broken AC in scorching Texas heat.
An official county and municipal tenancy registry that authenticates lawful lease agreements. Stops squatter scams and fraudulent subleases immediately by providing law enforcement and property owners with instant verification, while giving lawful tenants certified legal standing.
Mandatory digital ticketing where critical habitability emergencies—especially broken Air Conditioning during Texas summer heatwaves, heating failure during winter freezes, or major plumbing disasters—carry statutory 24-to-48-hour mandatory remedy deadlines backed by rent escrow remedies.
Treating toxic black mold and severe pest infestations as non-negotiable statutory habitability violations with immediate remediation mandates, rather than "optional add-on fees" forced onto renters.
Dedicated municipal tenant navigators providing renters with clear statutory guidance and protection against unlawful lockouts, retaliatory evictions, and improper notices, paired with Justice of the Peace pre-filing diversion mediation.
A concrete 5-pillar municipal roadmap for flood resilience, small business empowerment, neighborhood security, and fiscal integrity.
Prioritizing stormwater detention and regional drainage cooperation with Harris and Fort Bend counties to protect historic Katy and newer neighborhoods from devastating flooding.
Zero-fee, 1-page digital registration for home-based solopreneurs and micro-enterprises under $150K. Banning predatory HOA fines and commercial lease mandates for quiet solo trades. Guaranteeing 15% of municipal contracts under $50,000 to certified local Katy solopreneurs and independent contractors.
Formally partner with TCOLE (Texas Commission on Law Enforcement) to sponsor and train Katy Neighborhood Watch programs. Equipping community watch captains with accredited de-escalation training and direct, verified dispatch links to Katy Police.
Strip HOAs of home repossession and non-judicial foreclosure powers. Ban institutional Wall Street corporations from buying 1-4 single-family homes in Katy. Texans will no longer rent the picket fence dream—houses are for families.
Publishing an open-ledger, searchable municipal budget so every resident can see exactly how tax dollars are spent, eliminating sweetheart developer subsidies.
No law degree or political insider ties—just real-world working experience as an entrepreneur, self-educated tax strategist, technical systems engineer, and licensed health insurance agent.
Over a decade of disciplined self-directed study and practical execution in the Internal Revenue Code, IRS Form 1040, small business formation (LLC/EIN/Sales Tax), and accounting ledgers—helping working-class families and mom-and-pop shops navigate unfair tax burdens.
Real-world systems engineering foundation. I worked as a systems technical engineer, assisting field operations to restore live telemetry, diagnose instrumentation drops, and troubleshoot mission-critical software and infrastructure systems under 24/7 high-stakes operational pressure.
As an active licensee under the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI), I advise working families and small businesses through ACA and Medicare selections. I see firsthand the horror of surprise medical bills, predatory prior authorizations, and prescription price gouging—driving my comprehensive 5-Pillar Texas Patient Bill of Rights.
View Patient Bill of RightsAs an independent solopreneur and self-made business owner, I manage client engagements, study local regulations, and help build ventures from the ground up without corporate backing or institutional subsidies.
Front-line civic servant: As a Democratic Election Judge and certified Harris County VDR, I safeguard voter access. I am also commissioned by the Texas Secretary of State as a Notary Public & Remote Online Notary (RON).
Candidate Personal Footnote • Systems Technical Engineering:
My technical engineering foundation was forged in high-stakes operational environments. Serving as a systems technical engineer, I worked under 24/7 real-world operational pressure—restoring live telemetry, maintaining uptime, and troubleshooting mission-critical software and infrastructure systems. That same blue-collar engineering discipline, 24/7 accountability, and commitment to system uptime inform my practical approach to city infrastructure and state governance.