Dallas, TX – The Rexel Foundation for a better energy future, announced today it has entered into a strategic partnership with the nonprofit housing organization – Next Step® Network. Under the partnership, the Rexel Foundation will assist Next Step in pursuing their mission of putting sustainable homeownership within reach of everyone, while transforming the manufactured housing industry one home at a time.
The Rexel Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Rexel Group, a global leader in the professional distribution of products and services for the energy world.
Next Step, which was founded in 2010, is committed to building a value chain in which factory-built housing companies work in partnership with nonprofit affordable housing providers, members of the Next Step Network, to create more opportunities for lower-income American families to purchase quality, energy-efficient homes.
Chris Hartmann, Executive Vice President & CEO, Rexel Holdings USA, said “The Rexel Foundation was launched in May this year with a mission to improve access to energy efficiency for all by increasing awareness and understanding, encouraging innovation through sponsorship of educational and research programs and by supporting charitable community-based projects.”
“We are delighted to be able to support Next Step who share a common goal—to advance the energy efficiency agenda in the United States—and we look forward to working with them to bring sustainable housing within reach of everyone.”
With the support of Rexel, Stacey Epperson, Next Step’s founder and CEO, has committed to an ambitious scaling plan. Over the next 10 years, Next Step projects that 11,887 homebuyers will purchase Next Step Homes, with expected savings of more than $41 million in energy costs and $1.1 billion in interest savings over 30 years. Next Step also forecasts a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions of 98,000 tons.
Stacey Epperson said: “Rexel’s support to Next Step has been invaluable in accelerating the building of the infrastructure required to bring Next Step up to scale.” Currently, the Next Step Network includes 18 high-capacity nonprofit homebuilders serving in 20 states coast to coast. To date, their network has helped 138 families buy affordable, energy-efficient Next Step Homes that are projected to save them nearly $4 million on their utility bills and over $12 million in interest over the lifetime of their 30-year loans, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 9,000 tons.
Epperson added: “We fully expect Next Step to continue to grow by leaps and bounds, with hundreds of thousands of families still in desperate need of an affordable and energy efficient place to live.”
Both Next Step and The Rexel Foundation for a better energy future are committed to creating a sustainable future for the housing industry and allowing more people to achieve their dream of owning a home. Working together, they look forward to making that future arrive just a little faster.
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