How is life in Homestead and neighboring communities?

This is going to be a long post…

My father-in-law recently passed. His brother and sister-in-law made an overnight flight from Miami to Kentucky, to say their goodbyes and spend some time with my wife and brother-in-law. The first day they spent together I wasn’t a part of. This is completely understandable. They haven’t seen each other since my wife and brother-in-law in law were in high school and middle school (wife is 37, brother-in-law is 33/34). That’s a long time. My wife came back and told that her uncle and aunt hinted to them about moving back to South Florida. My wife and brother-in-law were originally born and raised in Miami Beach.

I’m actually ok with the idea. I’ve never been but I’m up for getting away from Kentucky. There’s not much holding us here. My siblings have moved and my parents have told me that I shouldn’t stay here for them. There also seems to be an abundance of IT jobs down there versus here. I’ve been in IT for several years and cannot really push past desktop support/ system administrator living here.

As for my wife and brother-in-law, I think it would be good for them. They hate it in Kentucky. While we have a large Cuban population, they don’t intertwine with them. FYI, I married into a Latino family. My wife and BIL are born to immigrants. Their father was from Nicaragua. Their mom is Cuban. Notice I didn’t use the past tense for their mom. She’s still alive but has no part in their life. She remarried years ago and focuses on her new family. Their cousins and aunts on that side are snakes. There is no family support here for them. In South Florida, they could get support from their dad’s side of the family.

I’m a bit worried about costs though. I know Homestead is “cheaper” than Miami but in comparison to Kentucky, it’s expensive. I pay 1300 for rent here. 2 bedrooms/ 1 bath. 900+ sq ft. I have a washer and dryer hookup. We just pay electric and rent when it comes to housing costs. I make good money for Kentucky standards. The median salary in Kentucky is like 64k I make more than that. My wife works part time so not as much as myself. Together we bring in over 6 figures. We have no kids.

My BIL is a different story. And this is what I’m worried about. With the recent passing, my BIL is down income. He supports 5 kids and a girlfriend. Soon, he will start having financial difficulties. I am more than willing to help out. But the problem that comes into play is if they decide to move to South Florida (very likely Homestead). Is it possible to continue to have a good lifestyle down there if my wife and I are helping them? The salaries down there in IT seem to be better than here although still low when comparing to other major cities. Would it be smarter to stay here although they’ll probably be miserable?

Right now they are grieving, which is understandable, but someone needs to think of the endgame. That someone is me. I need advice.