2010 Subaru Forester Head Gasket issue

I have a 2010 Subaru Forester 2.5 X automatic with just shy of 107,000
miles. My warranty expired at 100,000. I went into a local subaru garage (
not the dealer) who has been in the business for many years and knows
these cars fairly well to have it inspected. I needed rear brake calipers in
order to pass inspection, so I had them do it that afternoon. While there I
asked quotes on replacing the timing belt as I have not done that yet and I
know that is something that should be done around this mileage. He said he
would take a look to see if I had any head gasket leaks because that would
determine the cost of the replacement as he suggested it would be a waste
of time and money just doing the timing belt if I had leaking head gaskets.
Sure enough they are leaking in two spots and he quoted about $1800 to do
the whole job.

I have known subarus to be notorious for head gasket issues, but I was
hoping when I bought this car that it had been resolved. I had a 99 legacy
outback that blew it's HG 5 years ago and I spent the money to have it
replaced only for the car to die 7 months later.

I'm in a bit of a financial bind and am struggling trying to justify this repair. I
haven't had any overheating issues or any of the other tell tale signs of a bad
head gaskets, but now that I'm made aware of it, I'm worried about going too
far travel wise.

I've read on here on other posts regarding the HG issue that some people
got some assistance from Subaru of America. I have tried calling and have
also emailed, but no response. How did people go about doing this?

I would consider trading it in, but I'm afraid the trade in value is less than
what I owe on this. Has anyone else had this issue and if so what did you
do?