Setup vsftpd easily

If I run this config:

listen=YES

anonymous_enable=NO

local_enable=YES

write_enable=NO

dirmessage_enable=YES

use_localtime=YES

xferlog_enable=YES

connect_from_port_20=YES

chroot_local_user=YES

secure_chroot_dir=/var/run/vsftpd/empty

pam_service_name=vsftpd

rsa_cert_file=/etc/ssl/private/vsftpd.pem

Then I get an error message:

500 OOPS: vsftpd: refusing to run with writable root inside chroot()

However, if I add in allow_writeable_chroot=YES as suggested here, then it just fails to connect:

Connection attempt failed with "ECONNREFUSED - Connection refused by server"

However, if I remove that line that was just added and perform
sudo chmod a-w on the users home directory, they can now connect but the service is pointless as they can't upload anything.

Is there a way to restrict users to just their home directory, AND be able to connect and write to their home directory? Turning off chroot_local_user is not an option as they can then browse all the other users directories.