The housing thing is about allowing people who actually do play to use the housing features of the game. Just because you've been an avid subscriber for however long, it doesn't make you worth more than anyone else to SE if you suddenly quit. Therefore they have to give the incentives to someone who's still there.

I don't have a house yet, but I will be getting one whenever the Ishgard wards open up (as I'm assuming they will) and if I stop playing for a few months and lose it, so be it. I get 80% of the purchase gil and most of my furniture back, losing the rest of the stuff is a fair trade for not being a slave to a game that, at the time, I didn't want to play anymore.

Committing yourself to an MMO in a way that makes you feel bad when you're not playing is not healthy, and SE's new housing rules has nothing at all to do with that.