diff --git a/roles/openshift-apps/noggin/templates/deploymentconfig.yml b/roles/openshift-apps/noggin/templates/deploymentconfig.yml
index 62f82985e2..751d8e0012 100644
--- a/roles/openshift-apps/noggin/templates/deploymentconfig.yml
+++ b/roles/openshift-apps/noggin/templates/deploymentconfig.yml
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ spec:
           value: "deploy.wsgi"
         - name: APP_CONFIG
           value: "/etc/noggin/gunicorn.conf.py"
-        {% if subdir %}
+        {% if subdir is defined %}
         - name: SCRIPT_NAME
           value: "{{ subdir }}"
         {% endif %}
diff --git a/roles/openshift-apps/noggin/templates/noggin.cfg.py b/roles/openshift-apps/noggin/templates/noggin.cfg.py
index e5c19e87c4..936f6871f2 100644
--- a/roles/openshift-apps/noggin/templates/noggin.cfg.py
+++ b/roles/openshift-apps/noggin/templates/noggin.cfg.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ def from_file(path):
     return open(path, 'r').read().strip()
 
 
-{% if subdir %}
+{% if subdir is defined %}
 # Deployed to a subpath
 APPLICATION_ROOT = '{{ subdir }}/'
 {% endif %}