diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/util/path.py b/lib/spack/spack/util/path.py
index 20b1d8b41fd..e7d7a9d6199 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/util/path.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/util/path.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
     'spack': spack.paths.prefix,
     'user': getpass.getuser(),
     'tempdir': tempfile.gettempdir(),
+    'home': os.path.expanduser('~'),
 }