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Airbnb is often cast as the villain in discussions around affordable housing. Aspiring home owners struggle to afford the 5% down payment required for a conventional mortgage, and as increasing numbers of real estate investors use platforms like Airbnb to accommodate tourists, prices get further out of reach for would-be residents.Yifan Zhang is re-casting Airbnb as a force for good in affordable housing with the launch of her new startup. Yifan is the co-founder and CEO of Loftium, a service that provides prospective home buyers with up to $50K for a down payment with the caveat that they list an extra bedroom on Airbnb for 12-36 months, and share the profits with Loftium for the length of the contract.A 29-year-old Harvard grad with experience in the startup world, Yifan became an Airbnb host when she and her husband bought a townhouse in Seattle. The revenue stream from their spare bedroom covered the couple’s mortgage payments, and Yifan got the idea to help prospective home buyers come up with a down pay