The federal government has made strides in reducing the ranks of the chronically homeless and of homeless veterans, but the numbers of homeless overall has stayed steady at close to 700,000, the latest annual report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development shows. The thing is: Officials say homelessness in the U.S. could be "effectively eradicated" at an annual cost of about $20 billion - or, ThinkProgress notes, what the country spends each year on Christmas decorations.