Rather than pick one of the two options being presented, why not spend some time becomming involved with your unions, and with things like ALPA-PAC so that instead of trying to stretch every penny out of your paycheck, you can instead get a larger paycheck.

The solution here is not to set up cheap dump crashpads, it's to increase your pay to the point that instead of a crashpad, you get an apartment or condo in base. Heck, you could even spilt the condo a few ways with each person getting their own locking bedroom and you'd still be light years ahead of a crashpad.