diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_bld.c b/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_bld.c
index 3a6dbf9f0b..f5a6e0b65e 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_bld.c
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_bld.c
@@ -187,8 +187,8 @@ static UBool U_CALLCONV ucnv_cleanup(void) {
         SHARED_DATA_HASHTABLE = NULL;
     }
 
-    /* Called from ucnv_flushCache because it allocates the hashtable */
-    /*ucnv_flushAvailableConverterCache();*/
+    /* Isn't called from flushCache because other threads may have preexisting references to the table. */
+    ucnv_flushAvailableConverterCache();
 
     gDefaultConverterName = NULL;
     gDefaultConverterNameBuffer[0] = 0;
@@ -977,9 +977,6 @@ ucnv_flushCache ()
     /* Close the default converter without creating a new one so that everything will be flushed. */
     ucnv_close(u_getDefaultConverter(&status));
 
-    /* Flush now because we may not have any shared data in the hash. */
-    ucnv_flushAvailableConverterCache();
-
     /*if shared data hasn't even been lazy evaluated yet
     * return 0
     */