Bounded by a suburban neighbourhood and into a poisonous hinterland that adjoins the municipal dump, the Konik Camp had hardly any sanitation or utilities [4]. The Roma  refugees lived in makeshift shacks built from scraps of wood and rubbish. Since the Montenegrin government placed the Roma camp next to the country's largest rubbish dump - a small town has grown out of its waste. Roma including  children lived among Montenegro's rubbish, broken glass, scraps of metal and old clothes [1].

The self built houses flood whenever it rains. The rain comes in through holes in the roof and water from the toilets is washed in under the walls. In some cases it came up to shins. Roma slept on the floor and  carpets were always wet [1]. A small communal building had a water supply and a few toilets, but the water pressure was always weak [1]. 

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance has described conditions at the Konik camp as being “inhumane and hazardous” [2]. In 2012, a fire and subsequent flood made conditions even more appalling, leaving over 800 refugees even homeless [2].

The Roma survived on what they could scavenge from rubbish, mostly potatoes and bread. If they sold some metal or got some cleaning work in the houses outside the camp, they bought some food [1]. Most people in Konik make whatever money they can from collecting scrap metal from the nearby rubbish dump and selling it on for money. But they had no identity papers allowing them to work. They were scared to go outside the camp. [5]

The camp was located outside the city,  in an area already populated by Roma from Montenegro. While the main area of the camp was located in a field near the garbage dump, a secondary camp was set up with temporary metal structures, to house those who lost their homes during the 2012 fire [2]. Two large buildings were under construction, the site of apartments meant to re-house many of those living in subpar conditions. However, this has been a point of criticism  of the Montenegrin government, because building permanent structures at the site of the current Konik camp can only reinforces already isolated and precarious position of the Roma community  [2].