How do you actually ‘use’ your home equity?

Every FIRE discussion revolves around NW, which includes home equity. Our current NW is about $2.2M, half of which is equity, mostly from the apartment we live in and a little bit from a rental property.

This may be a dumb question, but it’s not clear to me how you actually realize the home equity component of your FIRE number in a way that isn’t too disruptive (ie I know I can sell, but then I’d have to buy again at likely equally high prices).

What are the ways home equity actually enables FIRE?