Stuck between Chrooted FTP and SSH

[Drain Fade <df_(_at_)_drainfade_(_dot_)_com>]

I'm starting to host my buddies web sites and have found myself stuck
between chrooted ftp and ssh. I like chrooted ftp because it's chrooted
and the user has no shell access. The insecurity and PITA w/NAT make it
not as desirable as SSH but SSH has it's drawbacks also. To use SSH I
have to give out shell access and it's non chrooted. The benefits are
it's secure password wise and it's very easy to use behind a NAT box. Oh
I also do not want to go down the SCP only path or other patches...kinda
defeats the purpose of a code audited security program used for remote
access ;) Anyway...I only see keeping FTP in it's chrooted non shell
config or using SSH in conjunction with a complete perm audit and poor
man's chroot (PITA). Can anyone offer their experiences and opinions on
this ? Thanks in advance...