There should be options for people to rent. Personally, I don't want to own a house any time soon. That's a lot more maintenance and repairs I'm responsible for that I don't want. BUT, the reason it costs so much for people to purchase houses in the first place are because too many people are purchasing multiple properties as an investment, creating an artificial housing shortage. There now aren't enough houses available for the amount of people who want to buy them, so the price skyrockets. Down payments are typically a percentage of the overall cost. Overall cost goes down, the pile of cash you need to begin is a lot smaller.

Those rentals should be a social project not a profit driven one.