New financial models could offer a lifeline to young professionals struggling with costly housing. When Ben Jones listed an apartment on Craigslist in March, he received more than 40 replies within two days. Some desperately pleaded that they were ready to move in the next day, he says. His apartments in Mohave County, Arizona, are in high demand because Jones hasn’t raised rents in the eight years since he became a landlord. His apartments start at $650 a month, while the average in the area is $1,400. Luckily for middle-income homeseekers, Jones isn’t the only one offering unique solutions to a housing crisis that’s crippling millennial dreams. Rents in America rose by 64 percent between 1960 and 2014 (adjusted for inflation), while real household incomes only increased by 18 percent, according to census data analysis by real estate platform Apartment List. But millennials, many of whom began working on the heels of the Great Recession in 2008, have been worst hit. Since the recession, developers have largely abandoned new construction of housing within a monthly rental range of $750 to $1,000 — some call this “workforce housing” — says Patrick Lynch, vice president of research at Middleburg Real Estate Partners. For developers, such units haven’t offered the attraction of either the government tax incentives that encourage companies to invest in low-income affordable housing or the high margins possible from costlier homes. Now, a growing band of investment firms, public-private partnerships and tech companies are devising creative interventions to fill this workforce housing void. | 