I ended up splurging $400 on a genuine filter housing. In my opinion, it is a worthwhile expense if it lasts me another 100k miles. By that point, we may be searching for a replacement car anyways. In my opinion, especially with time investment into this job, it is not worth saving a few hundred bucks to get possibly inferior aftermarket product. Now, if they came up with aluminum housing or some type of aftermarket upgrade that would create a lifetime part, I would not hesitate to buy it. Until then, crappy design or not, I feel there is not much choice but to get OEM. So far, 10k miles after replacement, the area appears dry and coolant level is staying where I left it. Fingers crossed nothing else major will fail anytime soon.