A Vancouver man who cared for his aging mother for 16 years is being kicked out of the Coal Harbour co-op they shared now that she has died.

At age 52, Michael Culver is three years short of eligibility to stay as a senior himself and has been asked to leave his home at the end of this month.

“I would have made provisions for the future if I knew this was going to happen. At the time it never dawned on me,” said Culver, who worked part-time so he could be there to help his mother, who was handicapped and had limited mobility. She died seven weeks ago at age 77.

He is hoping the co-op will allow him to stay on in their two-bedroom apartment, or move to a one-bedroom suite, instead of forcing him to go on its waiting list. Culver estimates the wait could be five to 10 years, since the Coal Harbour Housing Co-Operative is one of the more desirable in the city, located close to Stanley Park.

Calls by The Vancouver Sun to the management firm that runs the co-op were not returned.

Culver’s plight illustrates just one of the possible downsides when adult children live with their aging parents.

With the increasing cost of real estate in Vancouver and high demand for subsidized housing for seniors, many families are opting to enter into multi-generational living, according to local senior citizen groups.

The government’s Better At Home program, done in partnership with the United Way, encourages seniors to stay in their own homes as long as possible, but when a senior has health problems or is handicapped and needs assistance — which was the case with Culver’s mother — the answer for some families is to live together.

“There is more and more pressure for families to amalgamate resources and what you will see is seniors are either sharing their homes with their families or they are buying a property for them with the expectation they will get a home with them for life. It leaves them extremely vulnerable,” said Gail Harmer, the director of 411 Seniors Centre Society in Vancouver.

“It (multi-generational living) is a routine thing with some of Canada’s immigrants since they are carrying over their traditional way in their home country; but increasingly it is happening to more and more families (without that tradition).”

The provincial government does not have figures on how many extended families are sharing a home since that kind of data is not collected, said Alicia Bertrand, from the B.C. Ministry of Health.

But the government estimates 90 per cent of seniors remain in their own homes, whether that is on their own or living with family or friends, she said.

In the United States, as of 2010 about 3.6 million people over the age of 65 were living in households headed by their children or other relatives, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Experts predict that number will only increase as the baby-boom generation (those born between 1946 and 1964) continues to get older and frailer.

In 2010, there were 83,480 British Columbians who received Home Health services; the regional health authorities spent $881 million in the community for seniors. That spending included home support, nursing and other health services, such as physiotherapy, in homes and community settings, as well as dialysis, assisted living, case management and adult day programs.