diff --git a/builder/openstack/builder.go b/builder/openstack/builder.go
index 661913dd0..9822626aa 100644
--- a/builder/openstack/builder.go
+++ b/builder/openstack/builder.go
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ func (b *Builder) Run(ctx context.Context, ui packer.Ui, hook packer.Hook) (pack
 		&communicator.StepConnect{
 			Config: &b.config.RunConfig.Comm,
 			Host: CommHost(
+				b.config.RunConfig.Comm.SSHHost,
 				computeClient,
 				b.config.Comm.SSHInterface,
 				b.config.Comm.SSHIPVersion),
diff --git a/builder/openstack/ssh.go b/builder/openstack/ssh.go
index 0fd9f794b..1f93363c4 100644
--- a/builder/openstack/ssh.go
+++ b/builder/openstack/ssh.go
@@ -14,10 +14,16 @@ import (
 
 // CommHost looks up the host for the communicator.
 func CommHost(
+	host string,
 	client *gophercloud.ServiceClient,
 	sshinterface string,
 	sshipversion string) func(multistep.StateBag) (string, error) {
 	return func(state multistep.StateBag) (string, error) {
+		if host != "" {
+			log.Printf("Using ssh_host value: %s", host)
+			return host, nil
+		}
+
 		s := state.Get("server").(*servers.Server)
 
 		// If we have a specific interface, try that