Cornerstone Partnership is a social enterprise, creating and delivering responsive high impact supported housing solutions to the third sector. We house those in need, assisting housing groups and local authorities to meet their charitable and statutory obligations in the process.
Between 2015 – 2018 Councils in the UK spent over £300,000,000
placing homeless people into hotels and B&B’s
- Sept 2018
DID YOU KNOW...
UK Homelessness has more than DOUBLED over the past decade
Over £300,000,000 placing homeless people into hotels and B&B’s (UK, 2015 - 2018)
ABOUT US
The story of Cornerstone Partnership could be put down to a leap of faith and dare we say it, fate. After working with each other for a couple of years in high pressure corporate roles, our 2 directors, Gavin Mullaley & Dean Starr, bumped into each other at a property auction, where it turned out they were bidding on the same property! Rather than enter in a bidding war, they decided to team up and use this as a ‘trial run’ see how they could work together in a property environment.
Cornerstone Partnership is an evolution of this first joint property purchase and the shared passion for helping others. Gavin’s faith as a Christian and Dean’s knowledge of property came together to focus on providing social housing to society’s most vulnerable. Our aim is to ease pressures on local housing waiting lists and significantly decrease local authority expenditure on hotel and B&B emergency accommodation, working with local authorities and charities to do so.
At the time of writing, Cornerstone Partnership has delivered 80 properties in the West Midlands, supporting over 300 families and delivering over £650,000 worth of savings which would have otherwise been spent on hotels, hostels and B&Bs. Our team has grown from 2 to 7 in under 18 months, evolving into a collective mission to have a significant positive impact in ending homelessness. We want to deliver a MINIMUM 1,000 properties within 10 years.
The scale of the homelessness crisis in the UK is shameful. The level of rough sleepers in major cities, coupled with the ‘hidden’ and statutory homeless, is disgusting. A major gripe of ours is how homelessness isn’t considered ‘fashionable’. It’s focus within the media and our society is infrequent at best – now and then we hear some shocking stats or click bait headlines, but then the conversation stops again until the next shock stat is published. We are committed to always keeping the conversation going, consistently raising awareness, sharing knowledge, and showing others how they can make a difference.
OUR IMPACT
80
Properties
Delivered
+300
Families
Supported
£650k
Savings
Achieved
383
Beds Made
Available
THE TEAM
Dean Starr
Director
Dean brings his experience as a property investment specialist and portfolio landlord to Cornerstone, with responsibility for investor relations, financial management, business planning and project delivery.
His pragmatic approach and decisive nature supports a strong leadership partnership alongside Gavin.
He enjoys travelling the world with his young family and outdoor adventure activities in his spare time. Dean's latest challenge saw him take on Everest Base Camp in October!
Lynsey Webster
Business Manager
Lynsey's primary responsibilities are the management and co-ordination of refurbishment and maintenance programmes for the Cornerstone property portfolio, liaising with multiple contractors, managing simultaneous projects and preparing properties for our clients.
She brings a multi-skilled and diverse background in property through from development to management, in both the commercial and residential sectors.
Lynsey enjoys spending time with her family and can be found pitch-side at weekends as a passionate soccer-mom.
Natalie Baglin
Finance Manager
Natalie joined the team in June 2019, where she is responsible for the financial side of our business. Accounts, payments, invoices and cashflow are all crucial elements of Natalie's role, and her organisation and attention to detail is second to none.
Natalie is vastly experienced in business accounting, and has even lectured at South Staffs College for the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) course.
In her spare time, Natalie has a very active social life, going out with friends and having adventures with her family. It's been a busy few months for Natalie, as she also got married in August and moves house before Christmas!
Gavin Mullaley
Director
Gavin is responsible for business growth, both strengthening the reach of our existing support models and working with our partners to develop bespoke solutions to their problems.
His experience as a Director with International businesses and as a Non-Executive Director, help to give him a long term strategic vision for the organisation and its impact.
He is a committed Christian and lives in Warwickshire with his wife and 3 children. Health and fitness is also a vitally important part of Gavin's lifestyle.
Beth Davey
Property Manager
Beth joined Cornerstone in November 2018 and quickly established herself as a key member of the team. She is responsible for searching for, contracting and purchasing suitable properties to add to our portfolio that match our clients’ needs.
Her strong operational background and attention to detail strengthens the teams adherence to compliance and high standards across day to day procedures.
In her spare time Beth enjoys spending time with her husband and 2 children and is obsessed with anything Disney!
Joe Lloyd
Social Comms Manager
Joe joined us in July 2019 to take control of all things social media and marketing. He is responsible for growing and maintaining our digital presence, developing our brand, and raising the profile of our 2 Directors, Gavin and Dean.
His strong background in social media marketing and content creation brings a new dynamic to the team, and we're thrilled to have his skill set and creativity on board.
Outside of work, Joe loves to keep active by swimming, running and gym training as often as possible. He is a music fanatic, football fan and family man - spending quality time with his wife and young son.
Emilia Doyle
Business Administrator
Making up the 'Magnificent 7' is Emilia, who has been with us since September 2019. Working alongside Beth, Emilia undertakes many administrative duties that keep things running smoothly, as well as working on her Level 3 Apprenticeship with Babington.
Emilia is a self confessed chocoholic and trash TV lover, and will often be seen eating a Diary Milk whilst catching up on Waterloo Road during her lunch break!
“I am proud that my property is being used for
a social cause and helping a family who would otherwise
have nowhere to live.”
Martin Evans (Landlord)
