There is a heavenly estate in the far reaches of northern Oakland County that boasts five bedrooms, four baths, and a gunite pool. This sumptuous 5,177-square-foot grotto has an estimated value of $1.6 million.
For the past decade, it has been the home of Solomon Kinloch Jr., senior pastor of Triumph Church. Triumph is a mega-worship complex with seven locations across metropolitan Detroit advertising six ways to donate.
Kinloch’s manor is located in a quiet neighborhood, the type where everyone seems to die of old age. The mailboxes are replica homes themselves. The grounds are handsomely manicured. And the commute to Detroit City Hall is a mere 50 minutes with light traffic and no road construction.
Not too bad when Jesus is your co-pilot.
But not so good when you’re running to be Detroit’s next mayor.
Pastor Kinloch is a nice guy, I do not doubt. A man of faith and good deeds, it is said. But with its current financial straits, Detroit needs a mayor with certain worldly sophistications, one who understands municipal finance, union negotiations, and pension obligations.
Also: Detroit deserves a guy actually lives in the city.
Kinloch claims that he does live in Detroit, and has since March 2024. According to the city charter, candidates for municipal office must have lived in the city for at least a year before filing paperwork.
The question is simple enough: Where does the pastor lay his head? Kinloch has had four domiciles in the past year, having wandered more than Moses himself. There’s the manor in Oakland County, for one. And another three addresses in the city.
Last March, Kinloch supposedly left his wife and child to fend for themselves in Oakland County while he registered his new living quarters at a pay-as-you-go dump on Michigan Avenue popular with European backpackers. Kinloch apparently stayed on the ninth floor in a pad with peeling paint off the walls and stains on the carpet. Kinloch’s room was located near the garbage chute.
Ten weeks later, Kinloch moved in with his brother in an apartment on Gratiot Avenue near Greektown. He allegedly stayed there for six months, according to voter registration records. One wonders which brother did the shopping and which cleaned the toilets?
During this time, Kinloch’s wife moved into the same building as Kinloch and his brother, but into a different unit. Kinloch did not change his address to his wife’s new apartment for another two months, according to records.
Why? Maybe he really appreciated his brother’s chicken cacciatore.
“Solomon Kinloch has a valid license,” said Dan Lijana, a spokesman for the Kinloch campaign. “His Detroit address was verified when he filed to run for mayor. He voted in the ’24 election at his Detroit polling location using the current address.”
The problem with that statement is that Kinloch has a new current address. No one in his camp, it seems, can get the story straight.
There is a whiff of dishonesty about the whole thing. It’s not too much to ask for a mayor who knows his own ZIP code and actually wants to live among the people he represents.
Can I get an amen?
Charlie LeDuff is a reporter educated in public schools. Follow him on X @Charlieleduff.
