Perhaps the WordPress Foundation could offer hosts "Got a Clue" certification and a directory listing, based upon whether the environment they provide meets certain minimum standards of security and sanity.

In return for a small donation to the foundation, a foundation volunteer could carry out some basic checks and, in instances in which the environment is not up to spec, they could give the host guidance on what they need to improve.

I'm not saying that such a scheme would be easy to institute but it would do a lot to improve the experience that regular users have with WordPress.