Michael T. Spencer is the General Counsel for the District of Columbia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Having joined the agency in October 2025 as Deputy General Counsel, he brings more than 15 years of District government leadership and legal experience to the role.

Michael was the Director and Chief Administrative Judge of the District of Columbia Rental Housing Commission. Under his leadership, the Commission became an independent agency, issued consequential legal decisions, and published the District's first comprehensive rent stabilization regulations in approximately 35 years.

Michael served as a Labor and Employee Relations Specialist with the Department of Behavioral Health, where he built strong partnerships with labor and earned a reputation for fairness and sound judgment. He joined the District government in 2009 as Senior Advisor and Supervisory Program Analyst to the Chief Nurse Executive at Saint Elizabeths Hospital. Earlier in his career, he practiced commercial real estate and healthcare regulatory law at Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter.

A committed civic leader, Michael is a member of Leadership Greater Washington's Class of 2012 and a former board member of Whitman-Walker Health, Rocketship Public Schools, Digital Pioneers Academy, and For Love of Children’s scholarship endowment fund.

Born and raised in Anacostia, Michael is a proud third-generation Washingtonian and graduate of DC Public Schools. He earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees from Ohio University, where he was endorsed for a Rhodes Scholarship. He received his Juris Doctor from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where he was awarded the Dean’s Special Award for leadership. Michael resides in Ward 7's Hillcrest neighborhood.