diff --git a/openapi_core/contrib/falcon/responses.py b/openapi_core/contrib/falcon/responses.py
index efeb6d3c..75168557 100644
--- a/openapi_core/contrib/falcon/responses.py
+++ b/openapi_core/contrib/falcon/responses.py
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ def __init__(self, response: Response):
 
     @property
     def data(self) -> str:
+        if self.response.text is None:
+            return ""
         assert isinstance(self.response.text, str)
         return self.response.text