diff --git a/asyncpg/compat.py b/asyncpg/compat.py
index 29b8e16e..b9b13fa5 100644
--- a/asyncpg/compat.py
+++ b/asyncpg/compat.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 import asyncio
 import pathlib
 import platform
+import typing
 
 
 SYSTEM = platform.uname().system
@@ -18,7 +19,7 @@
 
     CSIDL_APPDATA = 0x001a
 
-    def get_pg_home_directory() -> pathlib.Path:
+    def get_pg_home_directory() -> typing.Optional[pathlib.Path]:
         # We cannot simply use expanduser() as that returns the user's
         # home directory, whereas Postgres stores its config in
         # %AppData% on Windows.
@@ -30,8 +31,11 @@ def get_pg_home_directory() -> pathlib.Path:
             return pathlib.Path(buf.value) / 'postgresql'
 
 else:
-    def get_pg_home_directory() -> pathlib.Path:
-        return pathlib.Path.home()
+    def get_pg_home_directory() -> typing.Optional[pathlib.Path]:
+        try:
+            return pathlib.Path.home()
+        except (RuntimeError, KeyError):
+            return None
 
 
 async def wait_closed(stream):
diff --git a/asyncpg/connect_utils.py b/asyncpg/connect_utils.py
index e0c10442..8b29c0fc 100644
--- a/asyncpg/connect_utils.py
+++ b/asyncpg/connect_utils.py
@@ -251,8 +251,13 @@ def _parse_tls_version(tls_version):
         )
 
 
-def _dot_postgresql_path(filename) -> pathlib.Path:
-    return (pathlib.Path.home() / '.postgresql' / filename).resolve()
+def _dot_postgresql_path(filename) -> typing.Optional[pathlib.Path]:
+    try:
+        homedir = pathlib.Path.home()
+    except (RuntimeError, KeyError):
+        return None
+
+    return (homedir / '.postgresql' / filename).resolve()
 
 
 def _parse_connect_dsn_and_args(*, dsn, host, port, user,
@@ -504,11 +509,16 @@ def _parse_connect_dsn_and_args(*, dsn, host, port, user,
                     ssl.load_verify_locations(cafile=sslrootcert)
                     ssl.verify_mode = ssl_module.CERT_REQUIRED
                 else:
-                    sslrootcert = _dot_postgresql_path('root.crt')
                     try:
+                        sslrootcert = _dot_postgresql_path('root.crt')
+                        assert sslrootcert is not None
                         ssl.load_verify_locations(cafile=sslrootcert)
-                    except FileNotFoundError:
+                    except (AssertionError, FileNotFoundError):
                         if sslmode > SSLMode.require:
+                            if sslrootcert is None:
+                                raise RuntimeError(
+                                    'Cannot determine home directory'
+                                )
                             raise ValueError(
                                 f'root certificate file "{sslrootcert}" does '
                                 f'not exist\nEither provide the file or '
@@ -529,18 +539,20 @@ def _parse_connect_dsn_and_args(*, dsn, host, port, user,
                     ssl.verify_flags |= ssl_module.VERIFY_CRL_CHECK_CHAIN
                 else:
                     sslcrl = _dot_postgresql_path('root.crl')
-                    try:
-                        ssl.load_verify_locations(cafile=sslcrl)
-                    except FileNotFoundError:
-                        pass
-                    else:
-                        ssl.verify_flags |= ssl_module.VERIFY_CRL_CHECK_CHAIN
+                    if sslcrl is not None:
+                        try:
+                            ssl.load_verify_locations(cafile=sslcrl)
+                        except FileNotFoundError:
+                            pass
+                        else:
+                            ssl.verify_flags |= \
+                                ssl_module.VERIFY_CRL_CHECK_CHAIN
 
             if sslkey is None:
                 sslkey = os.getenv('PGSSLKEY')
             if not sslkey:
                 sslkey = _dot_postgresql_path('postgresql.key')
-                if not sslkey.exists():
+                if sslkey is not None and not sslkey.exists():
                     sslkey = None
             if not sslpassword:
                 sslpassword = ''
@@ -552,12 +564,15 @@ def _parse_connect_dsn_and_args(*, dsn, host, port, user,
                 )
             else:
                 sslcert = _dot_postgresql_path('postgresql.crt')
-                try:
-                    ssl.load_cert_chain(
-                        sslcert, keyfile=sslkey, password=lambda: sslpassword
-                    )
-                except FileNotFoundError:
-                    pass
+                if sslcert is not None:
+                    try:
+                        ssl.load_cert_chain(
+                            sslcert,
+                            keyfile=sslkey,
+                            password=lambda: sslpassword
+                        )
+                    except FileNotFoundError:
+                        pass
 
             # OpenSSL 1.1.1 keylog file, copied from create_default_context()
             if hasattr(ssl, 'keylog_filename'):
diff --git a/tests/test_connect.py b/tests/test_connect.py
index 02a6a50b..628d8aba 100644
--- a/tests/test_connect.py
+++ b/tests/test_connect.py
@@ -71,6 +71,14 @@ def mock_dot_postgresql(*, ca=True, crl=False, client=False, protected=False):
             yield
 
 
+@contextlib.contextmanager
+def mock_no_home_dir():
+    with unittest.mock.patch(
+        'pathlib.Path.home', unittest.mock.Mock(side_effect=RuntimeError)
+    ):
+        yield
+
+
 class TestSettings(tb.ConnectedTestCase):
 
     async def test_get_settings_01(self):
@@ -1299,6 +1307,27 @@ async def test_connection_implicit_host(self):
             user=conn_spec.get('user'))
         await con.close()
 
+    @unittest.skipIf(os.environ.get('PGHOST'), 'unmanaged cluster')
+    async def test_connection_no_home_dir(self):
+        with mock_no_home_dir():
+            con = await self.connect(
+                dsn='postgresql://foo/',
+                user='postgres',
+                database='postgres',
+                host='localhost')
+            await con.fetchval('SELECT 42')
+            await con.close()
+
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(
+            RuntimeError,
+            'Cannot determine home directory'
+        ):
+            with mock_no_home_dir():
+                await self.connect(
+                    host='localhost',
+                    user='ssl_user',
+                    ssl='verify-full')
+
 
 class BaseTestSSLConnection(tb.ConnectedTestCase):
     @classmethod