Vancouver’s Yes In My Backyard movement – which is pushing for more condos to be built in the city –  is courting controversy after a prominent member called for gassing opponents.

“Just gas this room,” vocal YIMBY advocate Greg Andrews Tweeted while his account was protected. “Problem solved”

Given the violent nature of Andrews’s threats, ThinkPol has decided not to identify the group he targeted.

Andrews made this tweet while his Twitter account was protected, meaning that people outside his followers would need to request access in order to view the content he shared.

Andrew has a long history of open racism and encouraging women, especially women in politics, to kill themselves.

“I’d say young South Asian males actually beat out old Asian ladies as being ignorant drivers,” Andrews – who uses the Twitter handle @gregeh – says in one tweet.

Andrews also appears to have been penalized by twitter numerous times for violating twitter “rules against promoting or encouraging suicide or self-harm” and also for Violating twotter rules “against abuse and harassment”.

Twitter has taken down a number of tweets where Andrews is asking people to kill themselves, including the one where Andrews asked a female politician to kill herself in a fire.

Andrews had previously come under fire over a series of tweets targeting another female politician serving in the Vancouver Park Board which culminated in the politician seeking police protection.

Despite Andrews’s history of racism, misogyny and violence, a number of local YIMBY politicians and activists follow him on social media.

His followers include Vancouver City Councillor Christine Boyle, who has been identified with the YIMBY movement for her support for more real estate development in Vancouver.

Abundant Housing Vancouver director Jennifer Bradshaw also follows Greg Andrews, as does the group’s founder Jens von Bergmann.

Lawyer Peter Waldkirch, a self-identify YIMBY advocate, also follows Greg Andrews.

This is not the first time Vancouver’s YIMBY movement has faced allegations of racism.

During the 2018 municipal elections, a YIMBY blogger asked voters to reject a South Asian candidate because “you can take a save out of the jungle but you can’t take the jungle out of a savage”.

It later emerged that Ken Paquette – a director of the not-for-profit Kettle Society and a vocal YIMBY advocate – had privately told the blogger to “make it sound less racist”.

Many directors  and founders of Abundant Housing Vancouver also shared the blog post.

They later claimed that it was a conspiracy by the group’s opponents to make the group look bad.

“Just to get it off my chest, I’m 100% now this was indeed a false flag,” AHV director Owen Brady tweeted. “If you’re not leaning this way already, you might want to assess your own biases.”

Last year, another YIMBY blogger Smart Living VanCity came out as an alt-right white supramecist.

“The racist ‘smartliving’ account seems to be gone,” Brady, who had been following the blogger on twitter said. “I condemn them anyway and if they live here I hope they’re leaving.”

A number of YIMBY advocates, including Andrews, has since turned their Twitter timelines private since @MonitorYvr started tweeting out.

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