John Parvensky, who has led the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless for the past 36 years, will retire from his role as president and CEO when a successor is found.

According to a news release from the Coalition, Parvensky helped build the organization from a small advocacy group with six employees and a $100,000 budget in 1985 into the “nationally recognized leader” in supporting homeless communities it is today, now with a staff of 750 and a $100 million budget.

“John has consistently challenged the status quo to advocate for the underserved and forgotten, promoting their health, wellbeing, and stability while inspiring the Coalition’s staff members to be equally tenacious,” Joel Neckers, chair of the coalition’s board of directors, said in the release. “Thanks to his leadership, Denver and Colorado have become national leaders in helping people who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness.”

Throughout Parvensky’s time leading the coalition, it has built 20 developments with over 2,500 affordable homes. The coalition also created a health center and advocates for legislation to address homelessness at all levels of government. The organization now helps more than 22,000 people every year, the release said.

Parvensky said he’s optimistic that with more collaboration and political will, Colorado will see improvements to reduce homelessness across the state in the coming years.

“There’s more understanding that investment, not only in affordable housing, but in specifically supportive housing targeted at our most vulnerable families and individuals, is needed if we want a community in which we don’t have visible homelessness rampant throughout our communities,” Parvensky said. “I’m hopeful that we can build upon that support and show that that investment will lead to real change and will have an impact in terms of improving the quality of life in all of our neighborhoods.”