Also: Kids Missing School & Americans’ Discontent ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­

AEIDataPoints-Banner ([link removed] )

Expert analysis made easy. Breaking down the news with data, charts, and maps.

Edited by Brady Africk and Hannah Bowen

Happy Thursday! In today’s newsletter, we examine potential “Trump houses” as a solution to housing affordability, the stagnation of chronic absenteeism among students, and Americans’ strained confidence in their country.

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1. Can Starter Homes Fix the Housing Crunch? ([link removed] )

01 Husock-1 ([link removed] )

Topline: The Trump administration is considering “Trump houses” as a solution to America’s housing affordability crisis. These privately built starter homes would have federal backing to encourage private investors and would require potential buyers to begin as renters before becoming owners after three years. AEI’s Howard Husock argues ([link removed] ) that the proposal is better than costly subsidized rentals or a new era of public housing. To be successful, Trump houses should be designed as true starter homes: affordably priced and reasonably sized.

Build It to Be Affordable: Historically, starter homes were smaller, with lot sizes around 1,200 square feet. But today, these options are scarce: The median new house reaches more than 2,100 square feet. For Trump houses to reinstate the starter-home tradition, the president must forgo his preference for grand structures and instead focus on constructing small houses on small lots that are naturally affordable as a result.

Zoning Hurdles: Furthermore, local communities must be willing to allow builders to construct these Trump houses. With more than 30,000 zoning jurisdictions, in which the government decides the size of houses and housing lots in local communities, the Trump administration will have to actively convince communities that Trump houses are beneficial.

"If Trump Houses can take their place in this frayed American tradition, they will provide an important neglected rung on what might be called the housing ladder—a step that allows those of modest means to get into the market in the first place.”

—Howard Husock ([link removed] )

More on Trump Houses
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2. The School Attendance Crisis Isn’t Over ([link removed] )

02 Malkus ([link removed] )

Topline: Six years after the COVID-19 pandemic threw schools off course, they are still struggling with chronically absent students. AEI’s Nat Malkus analyzes ([link removed] ) 2024–25 chronic absenteeism data for 39 states and the District of Columbia, finding that progress in fixing the high student absenteeism has stalled. In the past school year, absenteeism rates fell just over 1 percentage point.

Missing Education: Absenteeism appeared to be a stable problem before COVID-19 at around 15 percent, before spiking to 29 percent in the 2021–22 school year. According to the latest data, average chronic absenteeism is now at 23 percent and declining more slowly than in the years immediately following the pandemic.

Absent Values: Research has failed to identify why absenteeism has remained high after the pandemic, suggesting that the increases in post-pandemic absenteeism across the board are due largely to students and their parents placing less value on going to school each day. Any plausible solution to correct this trend will require states to employ three strategies: a sustained pressure campaign, consequences for unnecessary absences, and targeted supports for attendance challenges.

"After all, chronic absenteeism is not just a school statistic—it’s a measure of whether millions of kids are still connected to the promise of public education.”

—Nat Malkus ([link removed] )

More on School Absenteeism
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3. Are America’s Fundamentals Still Strong? ([link removed] )

03 Eberstadt ([link removed] )

Topline: Americans’ confidence in their country is under tremendous strain. The US has solid fundamentals, including a strong military and private wealth totaling more than $180 trillion, but serious issues persist, AEI’s Nicholas Eberstadt reflects ([link removed] ) . Many of these issues hide in plain sight, like the collapse of work for men in postwar America. Despite seemingly favorable unemployment numbers, roughly 7 million men between age 25 and 54 are now “un-workers": jobless and not looking for a new job.

American Discontent: Across recent generations, material living standards have progressed significantly, social progress has been achieved, and Americans have benefited from ample educational opportunities, new scientific breakthroughs, and advanced technological innovations. But lingering problems like unemployment radiate outward and drive broader American discontent by exacerbating issues such as income gaps, welfare dependency, reduced social mobility, fragile families, and a weakened civil society.

Correcting Course: Building on America’s sound fundamentals requires not only enacting smarter fiscal policies that avoid saddling the next generation with crushing debt but also leaning into the domestic legal and constitutional foundations that drive political liberty. America faces a litany of issues, but they are problems that can be corrected from within.

"America today is a great nation at risk. But arguably the most important threats to our country, both at home and abroad, come from our own hand. Our unsettled superpower may be exceptional in this regard, as in so many others. Fortunately, it means we find ourselves at a point not only of peril, but conversely also of immense promise.”

—Nicholas Eberstadt ([link removed] )

More on Human Arithmetic
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Dive into More Data

04 Pletla Thiessen ([link removed] )

The Chinese Communist Party Purge in China ([link removed] )

More on China
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05 McCusker Ferrari ([link removed] )

Financing Trump’s $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget ([link removed] )

More on the US Defense Budget
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Special thanks to Isabella Grunspan, Rosalie Blacklock, and Drew Kirkpatrick!

Thanks for reading. We will be back with more data next Thursday!

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