Control of Water Island was transferred from the federal government to the territorial government on December 12, 1996, for the sum of $25,000,000.00 (the same amount the federal government paid for the entire U.S. Virgin Islands in 1917) making Water Island the "Last Virgin". In the late 1990s, the Department of the Interior began transferring Water Island land to the long-time residential leaseholders. In 2005, the U.S. Virgin Islands government announced plans to further develop Water Island, and to increase the amount of residential housing to deal with chronic shortages on Saint Thomas.