Christian Bale is known for his big movie roles, but off screen he’s been busy building something very different. For years, he’s been working on a housing project in California to help foster kids stay with their brothers and sisters.
The project is almost ready to open, and for Bale, it’s not just charity work. It’s something close to his heart.
A moment with his daughter sparked the idea
When his daughter Emmeline was just three, Bale started thinking about kids who didn’t have parents around. He dug into how foster care worked and was shocked.
Most siblings were split up, and Los Angeles County had more foster kids than anywhere else. That thought stayed with him.
Siblings often face painful separations
Some estimates say up to 75 percent of siblings get separated after entering foster care.
“And so you imagine the trauma of that, you know? But added trauma to being taken from your parents, and then you lose your siblings, you know, that’s just something that we shouldn’t be doing,” Bale told CBS Sunday Morning.
A Chicago connection helped make it real
Bale eventually connected with Tim McCormick, who had been running foster homes in Chicago for years. McCormick was already working on ways to keep kids together, and Bale wanted to bring that to Los Angeles.
The two began shaping the idea of a village where brothers and sisters could live side by side, with trained foster parents focused only on caring for them. That became Together California.
The Palmdale site is finally taking shape
The site covers almost five acres in Palmdale, northeast of Los Angeles. Plans include 12 homes, a 7,000-square-foot community center, and open spaces for gardens and play. The first houses should be ready by early next year.
Each home can hold up to six siblings, living with a foster parent. There are also two small studios for young adults leaving foster care or parents working to reunite with their children. Support staff and therapists will be based right there on site.
The community center will welcome neighbors too
The center isn’t just for the village. It will be open to the wider Palmdale community, which McCormick says is key. He believes people need to see what foster care is really like and understand why it matters to include these kids in everyday life.
“This is what this site is about. We create a place for authentic goodness to flourish. And it certainly impacts a child, but it impacts all of us. We create a different story of us as a society,” Bale said.
Seventeen years of setbacks didn’t stop him
The project has been in the making for almost 17 years, and it hasn’t been smooth. There were delays from COVID and pushback from county agencies.
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“He had all kinds of opportunity to walk away when we hit roadblocks like COVID, issues with [LA County Department of Child and Family Services],” McCormick said. “… He didn’t walk away.”
“I didn’t think it was going to take that long,” Bale told the Associated Press in 2024. “I had a very naive idea about kind of getting a piece of land and then, bringing kids in and the brothers and sisters living together and sort of singing songs like the Von Trapp family in ‘The Sound of Music.’”
Builders and architects threw themselves into it
Architects at AC Martin broke ground in early 2024 and say that, while it’s not their biggest project, it’s one of the most meaningful.
“I think we’re at a point in our society where we have to help. And for me – you know, as exciting as creating the next high rise, we need to give back to society and community. This is small but I’m tremendously proud of this project,” said AC Martin CEO Tom Hsieh.
Bale, who has always loved design, says watching it take shape has been exciting. “I love designing. I love architecture,” he said. “So I adore the whole design process. And so actually seeing it really – coming to happen is just very, very exciting.”
Families could be moving in soon
There’s still fundraising to do and foster parents to find, but the first families could arrive early next year.
The full village was meant to be finished by April 2025, though McCormick admits building in California has been a challenge. Still, he hopes Palmdale is just the beginning.
“There is a desire in LA County, they know this has not been working,” McCormick said. “People are rallying to say this really does make sense.”
Bale says this is the work he’ll always treasure
Bale has plenty of awards for his acting, but he says this project feels more important than any of them.
“This is something that when, you know, I’m closing my eyes for the last time. I wanna look and say…think about, ‘Did I do some good?’ ‘Did I make any changes in the world that were useful?’ And this will be one of the things that I’ll be most proud of when I, you know, draw my last breath,” he said.
