2025 Annual Report

2025 Annual Report

A Message from Our President & Board Chair

Dear Friends & Partners,

When we were developing our strategic plan, we asked a bold question: What would it take to deliver our Manufactured Housing Done Right^® model – at scale – for more families, in more communities? This year, we proved it was possible.

With one year remaining in Next Step’s five-year strategic plan, 2025 was our proving ground. The work of this year didn’t just demonstrate progress—it showed us what’s possible as we head into 2026, the final year of this chapter and the launchpad for what comes next.

In 2025, we met milestones and perfectly positioned ourselves step into the developer role:

• In partnership with the Clayton Development Group, we were awarded the Berrytown project in Louisville, Kentucky. The Roots at Berrytown is a development in a historically Black community that will bring 14–22 energy-efficient, permanently-sited factory-built homes to families who deserve a real path to ownership.
• The ROAD to Housing Act and the Housing for the 21st Century Act advanced key factory-built housing provisions, while GSE adoption of single-section CrossMod^® homes opened new financing pathways.
• Extended 45L tax credits and Fannie Mae’s $200,000 investment in solar-ready CrossMod homes in Hillsboro, Wisconsin, are accelerating our vision of homes that are affordable to buy and affordable to live in.
• We expanded our homebuyer education resources, delivered our first webinar targeting prospective factory-built homebuyers, and established leadership positions in key policy and thought leadership coalitions.
• We delivered Freddie Mac developer training and are in active conversations with developers in Arizona and California—building the organizational infrastructure to serve not just as a guide to development, but as a developer in our own right.

We see the results of years of advocacy, partnership, and proof—and yet, we know this is only the beginning. In 2026, we will:

• Lean fully into our role as a developer, advancing Berrytown and building new partnerships that put more families in high-quality, energy-efficient homes.
• Champion the policies that expand access, remove barriers, and ensure factory-built housing is treated as the solution it is.
• Equip homebuyers, developers, and community leaders with the tools and knowledge to drive lasting change.

None of this happens without people. We are grateful to our network of nonprofit partners, advocates, lenders, homebuilders, developers, and policymakers who share our conviction that a factory-built home on a permanent foundation, in a community where families can put down roots, is every bit as worthy of investment as any other home.

Thank you for making this work possible!

Clemente Mohica
Board Chair
Next Step Network

Stacey Epperson
President & Founder
Next Step Network

Year-in-Review

Empowered Homebuyers

As part of our commitment to empowering homebuyers with the information and tools they need, Next Step expanded its resources and education efforts in 2025. We created 10 new homeownership resources for our online Resource Library, driving a 15% increase in Resource pageviews and ensuring more families have access to the guidance they need to navigate the manufactured homebuying process. We also delivered our first webinar targeting potential homebuyers — a new channel for reaching families where they are and equipping them with the knowledge to make informed decisions.

Beyond direct consumer education, Next Step provided homeownership technical assistance to 2 municipalities and 3 affordable housing organizations, helping communities build the local capacity to support factory-built housing as a viable, sustainable path to homeownership.

Policy Change

Next Step continued advancing its policy and advocacy efforts at the local, state, and national levels in 2025. Two major pieces of federal legislation — the ROAD to Housing Act in the Senate and the Housing for the 21st Century Act in the House — contain key provisions supporting factory-built housing, reflecting years of sustained advocacy by Next Step and our partners. The GSE adoption of single-section CrossMod® homes opened new and critical financing pathways, bringing more buyers within reach of quality factory-built housing on permanent foundations.

We also secured an important win for affordability and energy efficiency: the 45L Tax Credit expiration date was extended to 12 months after the One Big Beautiful Bill signature, giving manufacturers and developers additional runway to deliver high-performance homes. Next Step established leadership positions in key policy and thought leadership coalitions, including I’m HOME, UMMC, and NCST’s Homeownership Alliance, amplifying our voice in national conversations. Through new and deepened relationships with Senate and House offices and presentations at local, regional, and national convenings, we brought manufactured housing solutions to more than 2,000 housing professionals.

New Sales Ecosystem

In 2025, Next Step took a significant step forward in reshaping how factory-built homes reach families — evolving from a consulting-only model to active engagement in predevelopment and development. The most tangible expression of this shift: Next Step, in partnership with the Clayton Development Group, was awarded the Berrytown project in Louisville, Kentucky — a development that will bring 14–22 energy-efficient, permanently-sited factory-built homes to a community where affordable homeownership is most needed.

This marks one piece of a broader strategic pivot. We delivered Freddie Mac Develop the Developer training in November and December and are actively exploring new development partnerships in Arizona and California, building the organizational capacity to serve not just as an advisor to developers, but as a developer in our own right.

Zero Energy Ready Homes

Next Step’s commitment to homes that are affordable to buy and affordable to own continued to advance in 2025. The 45L Tax Credit extension — tied to the One Big Beautiful Bill timeline — provides a critical tool for incentivizing the construction of high-performance manufactured homes. Clayton continues to build increasingly efficient homes, with its eBuilt homes meeting ENERGY STAR® standards and eBuilt Plus homes meeting DOE Efficient New Homes Program specifications (formerly Zero Energy Ready).

A significant milestone this year: Fannie Mae provided $200,000 in funding support to facilitate the placement of CrossMod® homes with solar components in Hillsboro, Wisconsin, with Couleecap engaged to conduct energy testing including HERS ratings. This project reflects the growing viability of solar-powered, energy-efficient factory-built housing as a scalable model for communities nationwide.

Racial Equity

Throughout our work, Next Step remains committed to ensuring that the benefits of quality manufactured housing reach the communities that need them most. The Berrytown development in Louisville, Kentucky represents one of our most meaningful advances in 2025 — bringing affordable homeownership opportunities to a historically Black community where access to high-quality housing has been limited for generations.

Our work with Native communities also deepened in 2025. We delivered MH101 to Native housing authority directors and are exploring place-based peer learning opportunities, including factory tour experiences for housing directors in Maine. We created and disseminated a Native Resource Toolkit to support Indigenous homebuyers and housing professionals. And we recruited and delivered Groundworks training to two BIPOC-led developers primarily serving communities of color, building the pipeline of mission-aligned leaders who can bring factory-built housing solutions to underserved markets.

Our Impact

Five-Year Strategic Plan Goals: 2022-2026

In 2025, Next Step Network surpassed two of its five strategic targets — and made measurable progress on the rest. From homebuyers educated to markets opened, the data reflects years of sustained partnership, advocacy, and on-the-ground work.

Key Stakeholders

Financial Statements