Stop being ridiculous. The argument of whether or not he needs a house is moot as he already has a house. If he walks away from it, we'll assume he can't pay for it, and now he's in financial ruin. His credit turns to garbage, so all sorts of things are more expensive now, and the real kicker is he has no money for his kids' tuition. (assuming he did in the first place)
Sure, you can get by on the regular day-to-day parenting stuff on minimal means. You can't, however, pay for a decent education and provide for your children while they're in school without significant amounts of money, either cash or credit. How do you propose he deals with his kids future, assuming they're less than 10 years away from college given the submitter's age.