Or you can look at it that EK are taking the risk by paying the bill.
Personal choice, I live where I love living ( not in Dubai , a little bit north ) . I have a great place , life and EK pay for it.
I wouldn’t say I tried to catch a knife , I found where I would be happy and the allowance pays for it.
If I’d lived at home I would have to have lived in a house I could ‘afford’, my airline wouldn’t have paid for it .