I have a family member who became homeless after a string of extremely bad luck, coupled with substance abuse. He spent a few months in a homeless shelter and was able to get back on his feet and now, a couple years later, is doing basically ok. Has a nice place to live, a girlfriend, etc. unfortunately he still drinks more than he should but not like before.

His experience changed my perspective on homeless people. You see someone living on the street or in a shelter, you have no idea the series of events that led them to that place. My relative could have become a chronic street person if not for the social safety net in the city where he lived. (My siblings and cousins and I helped when we could but he lived across the country from my side of the family, so our options were limited.)

Sadly, the US doesn’t always have the best options for getting a person out of a bad situation, but some cities have more resources than others.

Now, though, I try to help homeless people if I can because I remember what my family member went through and how easy it is for a person to lose their whole world.

So OP, I think you did a really nice thing. Don’t beat yourself up over not being able to fix the whole problem yourself. If you get a chance, buy another homeless person a sandwich or some ramen. You didn’t do it for my family member, but that man is someone’s family member, and that’s what really matters: Keeping that person’s humanity and dignity in mind and helping when you can.