No cardboard box. It just guarantees that everyone will live in Tung Chung, right next to CLK. You can comfortably live in TC with 1300 USD a month rent and have a 3 bedroom appartment. But you are right, you can forget about affording anything downtown without matching at least the allowance with money from your own pocket. And then you are talking about a place the size of a cardboard box.
You are right, only new hires will get stuck on a HK basing because the senior guys will think it isn't sweet enough. And on a new hire salary it will make it even tougher.
At Cathay, our compensation isn't as good as at FedEx, but the housing allowance jacks it up quite a bit to make living in HK and "option".