Children waking up to rat bites and breathing problems are just the tip of the Auckland poverty iceberg, according to one advocate.

LISTEN ABOVE: Auckland Action Against Poverty spokeswoman Sue Bradford talks to Newstalk ZB's Michael Sergel about state housing in Glen Innes.

One Glen Innes state house tenant said her mouldy house has left her child with holes in his lungs.

Now another woman has said she woke up to find her child had been bitten on the ear by a rat.

READ MORE: Rat chews ear of sleeping boy

Auckland Action Against Poverty spokeswoman Sue Bradford said the case reinforces the need for an urgent increase in social housing stock.

She said one of the reasons families are living in such bad situations is because there's nowhere else to send them to.

It has surfaced recently that the Government is considering selling some state houses to an Australian landlord.

But Auckland Action Against Poverty spokeswoman Sue Bradford says that won't solve anything.

Sue Bradford said social housing should remain in state, community or iwi ownership, and the quality of the housing needs to improve.

"What we actually need are more houses and new houses as fast as possible available to people who at the moment are either living in these appalling conditions or don't have any where to live at all."