It costs me as much to live in Santo Domingo as it did in Miami (similar lifestyle).

You can rent a small room in a poor barrio for RD$2-3000 monthly.
You can buy food and clothes at the local markets, lots of options.
You can use local transport, it's cheap and effective.

Then again....

Can you deal with 6-8hr black outs?
Unreliable water supply?
Security issues?
Can you speak Spanish?

It comes down to how you want to live?

It's all available in the DR, from the wooden shack to the marble palace :-)