By the time the city shut down a problematic apartment building in downtown St. John’s last week, all control was lost.
Some vulnerable tenants had their units taken over, squatters slept in the staircase, and drug use was rampant. The building itself had fallen into disrepair, and was without a working sprinkler system.
“Just to tell someone, ‘please get out of my apartment,’ could end up in an assault,” said Bernie Woodford, 61, in an interview Wednesday.
Woodford said he lived at Harbourview Apartments, at 91 Brazil St., for roughly two years before the City of St. John’s shut the place down after deeming it unfit and a safety hazard.
It’s not somewhere Woodford wanted to live to begin with, but says it was the only option he had other than a shelter.
“It was all ignored. I don’t know if [social workers] knew how bad it was, but it wasn’t a very nice place.”
In the years since Woodford has lived there, there has been a shooting in the parking lot and a day-long standoff when a man inside was suspected of having a gun.
Graffiti scrawled across an interior wall at Harbourview Apartments reads: “Hell welcome.” (Submitted by Jason van Vianen)
Woodford says the physical condition of the building deteriorated, and the risk level for people who lived there increased. He said he watched as squatters preyed upon vulnerable tenants to use their apartments.
“To me that’s unfair to place hardened criminals in an environment like that where you can control the vulnerable, and people are highly addicted to cocaine… it’s not a very manageable situation,” Woodford said.
The 60-unit apartment building originally housed men 55 and older in bachelor-style units.
Former building superintendent Jason van Vianen says several years ago, the property manager of the day changed the criteria to allow men and women of different ages. He said that changed things and escalated violence and drug use.
“I’ve lost teeth, I’ve gotten scars, stitches,” van Vianen told CBC News Wednesday, showing two missing bottom teeth.
“I’ve had tenants come to me about people breaking into their apartments and I’ve had to deal with that. I’ve been assaulted by people that are non-tenants in the hallways.”
Police in tactical gear respond to a possible weapons offence at Brazil Street Apartments, on Aug. 29, 2025. (Ariana Kelland/CBC)
Van Vianen said he was the superintendent for seven years, under various different property management companies.
He said issues were largely ignored, and he wasn’t provided with the support he needed.
“I’m not responsible for the people that’s moving in,” van Vianen said. “I’m responsible for opening the doors and mopping the floors.”
He said he has been accused of taking rent from tenants — something he denies — and being complicit in problematic behaviour in the building.
But van Vianen said the groundswell of criminal activity was far beyond his control and jeopardized his own safety.
Former residents speak out after Brazil Street apartment shut down
“What am I supposed to do? I’m not a cop, I’m not an investigator, I’m not a superhero. I’m just a guy. And you know what? I walk through that door and tell him to get the heck out? I got 20 of them on me with knives, or bats or whatever. I’m not taking that risk,” he said.
“If you fight that system, you will lose.”
Doug Pawson of End Homelessness St. John’s says the apartment complex was so notorious for its illegal activity that he instructed his outreach team and other community groups not to go inside the building.
“We see a lot of residential unit takeovers that turn into trap houses all across the city. And so this one I would characterize as probably the largest one in the city,” Pawson said.
Pawson worries about what these evictions will mean for the already overburdened system.
“We have a full shelter system in our community and around the province. We have very limited affordable and supportive housing options.”
Leaks like this one were frequent at Harbourview Apartments, according to former building superintendent Jason van Vianen. (Jason van Vianen)
What’s happened at 91 Brazil St., he said, is a reflection of a lack of funding for social supports and housing.
“I think by not investing in solutions, we’re just kicking the can down the road for the problems that we see today.”
In the meantime, van Vianen, Woodford and another former tenant have been placed in a St. John’s hotel. They say they have no idea where they will go from there.
“I don’t have a job. I lost my cat. I lost my home. What more can they take from me?” van Vianen said.
Cogir, the property management company which took control of the building in mid-September, told CBC News in a statement that all “conforming tenants” were “re-housed, without exception.”
“Since assuming management, we have actively collaborated with the City of St. John’s and various support departments to identify a permanent solution for this property,” said Cogir spokesperson Brigitte Pouliot in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
“The new owner is refurbishing the property to restore it as affordable rental housing.”
CBC News requested an interview with housing minister Chris Tibbs. Instead, a spokesperson from the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation provided a statement.
The corporation said it received inquires to its emergency shelter line in the days following the closure of 91 Brazil St. and offered accommodations to those who qualified.
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