diff --git a/jupyterhub/apihandlers/users.py b/jupyterhub/apihandlers/users.py
index c8d6bb7a..27e9bf0f 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/apihandlers/users.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/apihandlers/users.py
@@ -238,10 +238,11 @@ class UserAPIHandler(APIHandler):
 
         await maybe_future(self.authenticator.delete_user(user))
 
-        # Delete the user's storage, if it exists.
-        # In kubespawner spawner.py, we have delete_forever
-        # method to delete the user's PVC.
-        user.spawner.delete_forever()
+        # allow the spawner to cleanup any persistent resources associated with the user
+        try:
+            await user.spawner.delete_forever()
+        except Exception as e:
+            self.log.error("Error cleaning up persistent resources: %s" % e)
 
         # remove from registry
         self.users.delete(user)
diff --git a/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py b/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py
index e096b9bc..4342e8d7 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py
@@ -93,8 +93,8 @@ class MockSpawner(SimpleLocalProcessSpawner):
     def _cmd_default(self):
         return [sys.executable, '-m', 'jupyterhub.tests.mocksu']
 
-    def delete_forever(self):
-        return "mocking_this_method"
+    async def delete_forever(self):
+        pass
 
     use_this_api_token = None