Hypothetically, if the snail with 2 investment shells were forced to sell them then do you think the slug would thereby be able to buy them? Because in all likelihood the slug would be forced to take out a loan in order to purchase a shell but clearly there are already shells on the market so if the slug could do that then they would already be doing so.

Furthermore, the costs of building shells might as well be higher than the actual listed price of the shells in some places, rural areas in particular, and the total number of vacant/unused shells is 10%. Without subsidies, the shell market will not come down in price to the point that people wouldn’t be unshelled from a number of shells suddenly entering the market.

So clearly, the ideal solution would be a needs based welfare program to provide homes to those who most need and benefit from them, and providing other necessary care and treatment to those who would do better in a specialized facility, all of which would have to be paid for via taxation of those who have the most assets and least need.