Mayor Bill de Blasio tried Friday to shoot down a Post report about the embattled Housing Authority — only to end up confirming it.

The Post reported that the federal government shutdown sharply curtailed negotiations between City Hall and the feds over the fate of the housing agency, but that “emergency” talks remained ongoing.

“It’s absolutely false. There have literally been daily conversations going on,” the mayor said on WNYC radio.

In his very next breath, de Blasio then confirmed the story.

“It’s true that (HUD) has being undercut in the sense that not all of their staff are there and it’s harder to have as deep conversations as we want,” he said.

The paper reported that the tempo of talks has slowed dramatically because virtually all of HUD’s staff has been furloughed by the shutdown — and that the feds and City Hall may ask for an extension of a Jan. 31 deadline set by a federal judge to strike a deal.

“The day-to-day drumbeat of ‘Let’s talk’ has slowed,” the source said. “They may can-kick it again.”

De Blasio also hinted that an extension might be in the offing.

“We will see in the next days how far we can get. If everyone thinks we’re making progress and we need more time, it’s perfectly legitimate for all the players to say to the court we might need more time,” he said, before adding: “But my goal is to get this all done by next week.”