Journeyman,
at the risk of sounding insincere, yes I would have been happy to take a cut in the allowance because I never have taken it in the first place. I fully agree with your view that the company has to the obligation to provide adequate accommodation for ALL its pilots. By lowering the the standards of the accommodation sufficiently the company lures people into taking the allowance, thereby saving money while at the same time washing their hands of any responsibility. The expatriates who are renting privately are asked to pay for the greed of the local landlords while at the same time the company is unwilling to do so, something does not compute here...