diff --git a/src/ocrd/resource_manager.py b/src/ocrd/resource_manager.py
index 9d1e6ac596..61f93fadc1 100644
--- a/src/ocrd/resource_manager.py
+++ b/src/ocrd/resource_manager.py
@@ -36,7 +36,16 @@ def __init__(self, userdir=None, xdg_config_home=None, xdg_data_home=None, skip_
         self._xdg_data_home = xdg_data_home
         self._xdg_config_home = xdg_config_home
         self._userdir = userdir
+        import os
+        # import traceback
+        # traceback.print_stack()
+        print('os.environ.HOME', os.environ['HOME'])
+        print('config.HOME', config.HOME)
+        print('config.XDG_CONFIG_HOME', config.XDG_CONFIG_HOME)
+        print('xdg_config_home', xdg_config_home)
+        print('self.xdg_config_home', self.xdg_config_home)
         self.user_list = Path(self.xdg_config_home, 'ocrd', 'resources.yml')
+        # print(self.user_list)
 
         if not skip_init:
             self.load_resource_list(Path(RESOURCE_LIST_FILENAME))
@@ -60,9 +69,9 @@ def xdg_data_home(self):
 
     @property
     def xdg_config_home(self):
-        if not self._xdg_config_home:
-            self._xdg_config_home = config.XDG_CONFIG_HOME
-        return self._xdg_config_home
+        if self._xdg_config_home:
+            return self._xdg_config_home
+        return config.XDG_CONFIG_HOME
 
     def save_user_list(self, database=None):
         if not database:
diff --git a/src/ocrd_utils/config.py b/src/ocrd_utils/config.py
index 7b4538223b..cc12a31152 100644
--- a/src/ocrd_utils/config.py
+++ b/src/ocrd_utils/config.py
@@ -179,10 +179,12 @@ def _ocrd_download_timeout_parser(val):
 
 config.add("XDG_DATA_HOME",
     description="Directory to look for `./ocrd/resources.yml` (i.e. `ocrd resmgr` user database)",
+    parser=lambda val: Path(val),
     default=(True, lambda: Path(config.HOME, '.local/share')))
 
 config.add("XDG_CONFIG_HOME",
     description="Directory to look for `./ocrd-resources/*` (i.e. `ocrd resmgr` data location)",
+    parser=lambda val: Path(val),
     default=(True, lambda: Path(config.HOME, '.config')))
 
 config.add("OCRD_LOGGING_DEBUG",
diff --git a/tests/test_resource_manager.py b/tests/test_resource_manager.py
index 427882cc25..9a0e7dc602 100644
--- a/tests/test_resource_manager.py
+++ b/tests/test_resource_manager.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import pdb
 
 from ocrd.resource_manager import OcrdResourceManager
+from ocrd_utils import config
 from ocrd_utils.os import get_ocrd_tool_json
 
 from pytest import raises, fixture
@@ -20,17 +21,19 @@ def test_resources_manager_config_default(monkeypatch, tmp_path):
 
     # arrange
     monkeypatch.setenv('HOME', str(tmp_path))
+    monkeypatch.delenv('XDG_CONFIG_HOME')
 
     # act
     mgr = OcrdResourceManager()
-    mgr._xdg_config_home = None
 
     # assert
     default_config_dir = os.path.join(os.environ['HOME'], '.config', 'ocrd')
     f = Path(default_config_dir) / CONST_RESOURCE_YML
     assert os.environ['HOME'] == str(tmp_path)
-    assert f.exists()
+    assert config.HOME == tmp_path
+    assert Path.home() == tmp_path
     assert f == mgr.user_list
+    assert f.exists()
     assert mgr.add_to_user_database('ocrd-foo', f)
     # pdb.set_trace()