Ashanti joins the cast of the upcoming unhoused drama, No Address. The project which centers on a community of unhoused people fighting eviction from their encampment also stars William Baldwin, Xander Berkeley, and Beverly D’Angelo.
The film, directed by British LA-based Julia Verdin and co-written with James J Papa, is based on true stories gathered during research trips to shelters, missions, and charitable organizations across America.
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Ty Pennington, Lucas Jade Zumann, Kristanna Loken, Patricia Velasquez, and Isabella Ferreira round out the cast.
Baldwin plays a gambler determined to clear a community of homeless people off land he wishes to acquire. Berkeley, a war veteran and former addict, protects the group and sells his art to make money for them.
Ashanti portrays an Iraq War veteran suffering from PTSD who turns to drugs as a coping mechanism, while D’Angelo plays a formerly successful actress with early-onset dementia who has ended up on the streets.
Pennington makes a guest appearance as the charitable owner of a hardware store, and Zumann plays a young person who has been living on the streets since leaving his abusive home.
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The film aims to shed light on the issue of homelessness, which affects nearly 600,000 people on any given night across America, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Verdin hopes the film will “open people’s hearts to remember that we have human beings out on our streets with nowhere to go.”
The film has the support of several West Coast organizations supporting homeless people, including Step Up LA, Union Rescue Mission LA, the Downtown Women’s Center, and the First Presbyterian Church, Hollywood.
Principal photography is currently underway in Sacramento.