diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/scipy/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/scipy/default.nix
index cbabcbd72f35..d51c049589ee 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/scipy/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/scipy/default.nix
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ in buildPythonPackage {
     # library where these files are cached. See also:
     # https://github.com/scipy/scipy/pull/18518#issuecomment-1562350648 And at:
     # https://github.com/scipy/scipy/pull/17965#issuecomment-1560759962
-    export XDG_CACHE_HOME=$PWD; mkdir scipy-data
+    export XDG_CACHE_HOME=$PWD; export HOME=$(mktemp -d); mkdir scipy-data
   '' + (lib.concatStringsSep "\n" (lib.mapAttrsToList (d: dpath:
     # Actually copy the datasets
     "cp ${dpath} scipy-data/${d}.dat"