Bill Freeman, Algonquin Island. Residents of the Toronto islands find themselves in a much different situation than their counterparts on the mainland. Following a policy set up in the 1990s, island residents own the houses they live on, but not the land itself. As the community ages, residents can choose to leave their property to a spouse or child if they were to live on the island, or it can be sold via a trust with a value placed only on the cost of the physical structure and not on the public market - the case for the rest of the city.