Heritage protection in Chile, in the last 20 years, has been strongly influenced by citizen movements, who seek to maintain the identity of their neighborhoods. The Heritage Zone instrument, from now on, HZ, was used as a protection tool. In principle, a central objective of these actions is to maintain housing destination as a mechanism to preserve the social fabric. However, in several HZs, the housing facades conceal a diversity of uses. This situation raises doubts about the effectiveness of the regulatory tool in achieving the communities' aspirations. In this sense, this research aimed to analyze changes in the residential character of three neighborhoods after their designation as HZs. The methods used included registration in GIS mapping of land uses for 2024, where information from the Internal Revenue Service was used. These data were complemented by population data from the 2002 and 2017 Censuses. The results point out that the HZ instrument is far from guaranteeing the sought-after preservation of the social fabric. These conclusions emphasize the importance of rethinking heritage protection instruments in pericentral areas to strike a balance between attracting investment and the desired neighborhood identity sought by the communities.