The Senate unanimously approved an amendment offered by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) to the Every Child Achieves Act that would eliminate barriers to children receiving assistance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) homeless assistance programs.

HUD regulations require homeless children and families to be certified as homeless before they can receive assistance. Homeless children and families are constantly on the move, which can make receiving certification difficult. Homeless people are frequently unable to provide documentation of their whereabouts or proof that they will only be staying at their current location.

The amendment adopted by the Senate would allow school personnel to certify that children are homeless and eligible for HUD services by writing a letter on their behalf. This would make it easier for homeless children to receive the services in which they are already eligible.

“More children in this country are homeless than ever before, and we know that homelessness makes it much more difficult for children to learn,” Feinstein said. “We should be making it easier for these children to get help, not harder.”

According to the Department of Education, more than 1.3 million children nationwide were homeless during the 2013-2014 school year, including more than 310,000 in California.